Why do books have chapters? How writing changed from antiquity to children's books and streaming

[Michie]

Nicholas Dames remembers the first time he really got thinking about a very obvious but largely invisible writing device.

It was around two decades ago, when he was completing a PhD in English and American literature.

"A friend of mine, who was not an academic, over drinks one night, just blurted out to me, 'why do novels have chapters?'," the Columbia University humanities professor tells ABC RN's Late Night Live.

"I realised I hadn't the faintest clue how to answer that question. It was one of those, 'why is the sky blue' questions."
In the years that followed, Professor Dames returned to this question again and again, so he decided to explore the history of the chapter.

The topic may sound deeply academic, but it's not all laborious details about medieval tomes.

At the heart of this history is how we tell stories.

And from a child's development to an evening on the couch watching Netflix, the chapter affects our lives in many unnoticed ways.

Chapter 1: A long history​

Continued below.

'Why do novels have chapters?' A simple question with a 2,000-year-old answer

Chapters are an obvious but invisible part of reading. Here's how they came to be and how they spill over into our favourite TV shows.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Tuur]

Interesting. Something I remember doing with chapters in childhood was to look in the table of contents and see how long each were. I didn't want to start a long chapter if it was close to bedtime. When I started novels, the target age was for youths who were advanced readers, and each chapter was what I thought would make half a good read aloud session. When I read to our offspring and they reached books with chapters, I read them two chapters a night.

Dividing into chapters helps with pacing. I like to alternate calm endings that hint at problems with cliffhanger endings. I think the calm endings are convenient places to stop while the cliffhangers encourage the reader to turn to the next chapter right now.

Was surprised it didn't mention books serialized one chapter at a time in magazines and newspapers.

FWIW, Terry Pratchett didn't use chapters.