Short novels

[Eric]

Not short-stories, or novellas, but novels up to about 150 pages. I have noticed that these are on the increase, in several languages. Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Because I think it's rather interesting that there is an alternative to 800-page blockbusters. That there is a yearning for the concise and sometimes poetic, as opposed to the huge, multi-threaded story,

There's even a shelf in my local library devoted to these short works. I hope other libraries and bookshops follow suit.

[JTolle]

Indeed, at the public library I go to there's usually a special, "featured" shelf devoted to short novels. Funnily enough, having never read Banville but seen his name tossed around, I picked up his The Book of Evidence because it was on the "One Day Reads" shelf, of course in retrospect I never would have pegged this as a "One Day Read" but nonetheless I finished it in two, which says something about advertising.

Also writer John Hawkes, one of the greatest stylists in English, had an oeuvre that consisted largely of novels under 200 pages. It was a size I think (though I've only read two of his works) that allowed his poetic, surreal, visceral visions their perfect expression, anything longer might have been tiring, and short stories, as Faulkner knew, are much more difficult to write well than novels. Both The Lime Twig and The Passion Artist are taut, unnerving masterworks of short literature and I recommend them highly.

[Daniel del Real]

There are some writers that most of his works move between short stories and short novels. I'm thinking right now of two excellent ones: Antonio Tabucchi and Ismail Kadare.
Tabucchi, besides his incredible short stories books, has produced a lot of short novels, I think none of them longer than 250 pages. His longest novel could be It's Getting Late all the Time and it doesn't go over that size limit. Kadare is the same example as he doesn't have a really long novel over 300 pages.
There is also the case in Latin America of Cesar Aira and Mario Bellatin, both of them writing a lot of short novels, thus creating a bigger picture of their literary works when these novels are put together.

[Liam]

The Guardian ran an excellent article on this topic, back in March:

Short Is Sweet When It Comes to Fiction

Needless to say, I agree completely.

Penelope Fitzgerald was, of course, the queen of the short novel genre in English. Barring The Blue Flower, all of her novels are within the 120--180 pp. range.

[Stiffelio]

Penelope Fitzgerald was, of course, the queen of the short novel genre in English. Barring The Blue Flower, all of her novels are within the 120--180 pp. range

I'd say she could share the throne with the fabulous Muriel Spark, whose novels were mostly in the 150-200 page range

[Eric]

Thanks all of you for names and suggestions. The idea of short novels rather appeals to me and it's nice to know there are some around that other people also read, and it's not just a good idea conjured up by a bored librarian.

I would hope that more British and American blogs and articles highlight modern translations as well, for instance Magdalena Tulli and several others, rather than eternally reaching back to old books such as Denisovich, and Lispector, however good these books and authors are. I still get the feeling that many British arts journalists, such as Robert Collins, don't really have much idea what is going on in Europe (or Latin America) right now. Hence this thread, for getting more ideas. I shall look out the name John Hawkes, next time I'm in a library or bookshop that might have him. The name doesn't (yet) ring a bell.

I'm not quite as cynical as Daniel in thinking that those writing short novels just want to pad out their CVs with a string of titles. I think that the short novel has its place in literature.

[Liam]

I'm not quite as cynical as Daniel in thinking that those writing short novels just want to pad out their CVs with a string of titles.

Seeing as Anthony Trollope produced over thirty (!) 600-800+ pp. doorstops, yeah, this idea doesn't really fly, .

[Liam]

I'd say she could share the throne with the fabulous Muriel Spark, whose novels were mostly in the 150-200 page range

I've only read a couple of things by Spark and don't know a whole lot about her (other than that she was a Catholic convert and had a horrible relationship with her son), but there was a new biography of her at the bookstore the other day, which I was eyeing somewhat shyly out of the corner of my eye--I think it was well over 600 pages, haha. Oh the irony. If she was the queen of the short form, as you say, Spark would have been horrified.

[Daniel del Real]

I'm not quite as cynical as Daniel in thinking that those writing short novels just want to pad out their CVs with a string of titles. I think that the short novel has its place in literature.

Hey, when did I say that?

[Amoxcalli]

Hey, when did I say that?

An appreciator of Pedro Páramo could never say that. If I'm not gravely mistaken, you can appreciate said short novel.

[Daniel del Real]

An appreciator of Pedro Páramo could never say that. If I'm not gravely mistaken, you can appreciate said short novel.

I think I do, I'm actually proposing above four writers I consider masters in the short novel. I think Eric started early with the booze this Holidays

[Eric]

That was a bit of a thread-stopper, Daniel. Never mind the booze, what about the short novels? The Argentinian authors you mention look interesting, but how many of their works can I find in translation, that is the question.

Cheers!