Great Novellas

[dask]

Speaking for myself, Dask, I would prefer that discussion of genre novellas such as "The Last Castle" be done elsewhere, e.g. in this case on one of the Jack Vance threads -- so that this thread isn't swamped by lists of people's favorite sf, fantasy, and supernatural stories.

I realize that Kafka's "Metamorphosis" is a fantasy -- but I think most people would regard it as more fittingly mentioned in a Literary Fiction section of Chrons.

My 2c only.

I figured that since stories like "The Machine Stops" and "Metamorphosis" were greeted with unblinking eye and a generous pass. But my point remains unchanged. No matter how good you think those guys are Jack Vance is no literary Elephant Man and needs no hood to hide his face in their company.

 

[Allegra]

Another Zweig's famous one: The Letter from an Unknown Woman.

By today's standard novels between 100 - 200 pages may well be called novellas since writers seem to be competing for the size of volume - who is writing a fiction less than 200 pages - it hasn't even started yet! But I suppose in the first half of 20 century a fiction over 100 pages would be counted as a novel?

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Benito Cernino by Herman Melville

I have to admit that this was one of the few works by Melville that I didn't care for. But I certainly admire Billy Budd.

 

[Danny McG]

Ivor, he was a good 'un

 

[Randy M.]

Concerning "Benito Cereno":

I have to admit that this was one of the few works by Melville that I didn't care for. But I certainly admire Billy Budd.

The class was over before I could finally think of a way to explain to my teacher my "eh" feeling toward "Benito Cereno": Melville kept telling the reader how smart the Captain was while the Captain kept acting stupidly so the story worked. Beautifully written as it was, Melville was essentially creating a mystery story that the reader figured out way sooner than his protagonist.

Presumably readers of the time, immersed in a certain cultural framework and expectations, were baffled by the "mystery" but any later reader without that cultural assumption and who's read a bit of Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie or other plot-heavy writer would have no trouble figuring it out.

But I agree with "Billy Budd".


Randy M.

 

[Randy M.]

Another to add: Isak Dinesen, "A Supper in Elsinore." It's been a long time since I read it, so I can't offer details, but it's a ghost story that isn't scary, but melancholy and lovely.


Randy M.

 

[Extollager]

The intro of my Arbor House Treasury of Great Science Fiction Short Novels (Silverberg/Greenberg) says:


Anyone have any to add to that list or, if not, just want to discuss those that are on that list?

Once again, thanks to J-Sun for starting this thread. It is easy to overlook the novella, but what a lot of worthwhile fiction has been identified here.

 

[Randy M.]

Hoo, boy. Poking around the web for reminders of novellas I've read and enjoyed, I came across a few more.

"A Chronicle of a Death Foretold" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I have meant to reread this for years to see if I enjoy it as much as I did when I first read it and because I recall nothing of it except being impressed.

"Ethan Frome" by Edith Wharton. Well-written and engaging, but also really an extended conte cruel.

"The Final Solution" by Michael Chabon. Maybe the most powerful, affecting Sherlock Holmes pastiche I've come across. Chabon captures the hesitancy and loss of confidence of old age while also capturing the incisive intelligence of Holmes in a story that presages the tragedies of two World Wars.

"The Stupidest Angel" by Christopher Moore. A mash-up of Night of the Living Dead with touches of "A Gift of the Magi" and It's a Wonderful Life. There were times I had to stop reading to wipe my eyes watering from laughter.


Randy M.

 

[picklematrix]

Of mice and men is one of the few books brinv tears to my eyes, that is novella length if im not mistaken.

 

[Randy M.]

Of mice and men is one of the few books brinv tears to my eyes, that is novella length if im not mistaken.

It is, and I've found it effective every time I've read it.


Randy M.

 

[Guillermo Stitch]

Very difficult to see this thread as complete or exhaustive until you've all (bought and) read my novella, of course.

But for the moment, I'll concur with Joyce's The Dead and Kafka's Metamorphisis.

 

[Randy M.]

Has anyone read Katherine Anne Porter's "Pale Horse, Pale Rider"? I haven't but it's been on my radar for years in part because it revolves around the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 and very little fiction I know of has used that (the only other I know of is Dorothy L. Sayers' The Nine Tailors, for which it's part of the background).

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I have read it. Like all of Porter's work, it is very well-written and powerful.

 

[Randy M.]

Thanks, Victoria.

 

[hitmouse]

Very difficult to see this thread as complete or exhaustive until you've all (bought and) read my novella, of course.

Is Metamorphosis a novella or a short story?
Brilliant either way.

But for the moment, I'll concur with Joyce's The Dead and Kafka's Metamorphisis.

 

[picklematrix]

Legion by Brandon Sanderson is a good one, though i would guess most people here ate familiar with his work already.

 

[Bick]

Legion by Brandon Sanderson is a good one, though i would guess most people here ate familiar with his work already.

Not exactly literary fiction though...

In my previous suggestions I realise I missed out one of the best 'modern' literary short novels in my 'umble opinion: Saul Bellow's Seize the Day (1956). Now, I'm not sure it quite qualifies as a novella, as it's sometimes described as Bellow's fourth novel; however at only 120 pages or so, its a very slim volume on my shelf alongside longer works of his I love, such as Henderson the Rain King.

 

[picklematrix]

Not exactly literary fiction though...

In my previous suggestions I realise I missed out one of the best 'modern' literary short novels in my 'umble opinion: Saul Bellow's Seize the Day (1956). Now, I'm not sure it quite qualifies as a novella, as it's sometimes described as Bellow's fourth novel; however at only 120 pages or so, its a very slim volume on my shelf alongside longer works of his I love, such as Henderson the Rain King.

Apologies, I forgot which section this was in.

I read 'bartleby the scrivener' many years ago, by Herman Melville. I can't remember it very well, but Im pretty sure I enjoyed it a lot more than Moby Dick, despite not having heard of it.

 

[saulfan]

How about 'Immensee' by the German author Theodor Storm?

A magnificent example of the genre by a master cratsman.

Best Wishes,
David

 

[saulfan]

Just finished reading 'The Drop' by Mick Herron a 104 page Spy Fiction novella.

Not a great one, as the thread title requested, but certainly a very good one.

Best Wishes,
David