The article presents Adorno's theory of the novel but, contrary to what usually takes place in the reception of his philosophy that habitually connects it with the reflections on the novel by Benjamin and Lukács, it does so by focusing on the material about the epic —not yet investigated in depth— that Adorno presents in his book on Mahler. One of the main and innovative theses that we seek to present is the interdependence of musical and literary languages, as well as the need to reflect about the role that both play in the elaboration of Adorno's theory of the novel.