The first novel was probably Murasaki Shikibu’s ‘Tale of Genji,’ written in the 11th century. The last one that mattered, closing a millennium’s loop, was probably Zadie Smith’s ‘White Teeth,’ published in 2000. What’s come since has been the death rattle, and remixes of that death rattle.”Those weren’t, you might have guessed, words from Siri. Samuel Richardson, in the 18th century, wondered if the novel had said what it had to say. The fire has been stirred under these questions thanks to the sudden arrival of sophisticated artificial intelligence chatbots, notably ChatGPT.

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