How’s this for a definition of novella: “a novella, I think, looks through the narrow lens of a short story, and with a short story’s intense focus, at a small, precise part of the world, but it treats what’s within that lens with a novel’s generosity and care.”
Jacket Copy talks about novella-writing month. Which happens to be this month. Lucky for me, most of the short stories I write end up being novellas anyway.
What’s your favorite novella?
Is the best one ever written The Dead by James Joyce? Followed by The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James? Or does The Metamorphosis beat them both?
14 responses
I don’t know about better, but the most fun is Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
The first to come to mind is “90 Days” by Larry Brown. You can find it in his collection Big Bad Love. Highly recommend it.
Legends of the Fall from one of many great Jim Harrison novellas.
correction: “92 Days”
I’ve always loved “The Good Soldier.”
Oh! and “Death in Venice”! (Sorry for the double post, but I was too excited to let it go without a mention.)
Andrea Barrett’s SHIP FEVER or Lorrie Moore’s WHO WILL RUN THE FROG HOSPITAL?
Barry Hannah’s Ray
hard to pick a favorite; the pedersen kid by william gass is up there for me
I enjoy “Pastoralia” by George Saunders.
Thomas Mann’s DEATH IN VENICE is nearly perfect, followed by Joseph Conrad’s HEART OF DARKNESS, Edith Wharton’s ETHAN FROME, Hemingway’s OLD MAN AND THE SEA. HON. MENTION TO: Philip Roth’s GHOST WRITER. Imperfect, but one I love for its beginning and prescience (see BP oil spill): John Cheever’s OH WHAT A PARADISE.
Best ever? Heart of Darkness
More recently, the last post reminded me of how much I enjoyed “Bounty,” the post-apocalyptic novella that closes out Civilwarland in Bad Decline.
I’ve read “The Dead,” which is only good when you get to the end. Henry James just infuriates me, and oh my goodness, who wouldn’t consider The Metamorphosis about the best book ever, novella or no?
Bartleby the Scrivener is great. I also like Clarice Lispector’s The Hour of the Star
Inserting a plug for Andre Dubus’s great novellas.
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