Novels is the correct option .
In the 18th century, in England, novels became popular. Novels began to be published in periodicals in parts. They came out every week. The novels were about real life experience and they reflected the lifestyle of the middle class. The topics were related to power and reason.
These options are not right:
-periodicals ( These were important. They published news about politics, fashion, social etiquette and any other current affair but novels became to be more popular.)
- classic works from Ancient Rome ( These were not very popular. The novels dealt with different issues from the ones present in classic works).
-plays ( There were some plays used for criticism. Samuel Johnson was a representative of this literary work).