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| Hearsay: |
I thought this argument had been made recently with short fiction. But here it is again — fix contemporary society’s short attention span problem by accomodating it.
the chance of publishers successfully launching a novel by an unknown writer on the reading public are indeed slim in an information culture where we struggle to get through 10 pages without losing focus to the buzz of media white noise. Several hundred pages can feel like too much of a commitment when there is so much information to consume.
And who could deny that the actual experience of reading a long book can feel a little arduous if it doesn’t really make your heart sing? It is much like eating a delicious meal in an American restaurant – lovely, but you have to leave at least quarter of the portion behind or else you’ll explode. More than once I’ve been making my way through an 800-page novel only to conclude around the page 600 mark that I’m perfectly satisfied with my reading experience, indeed would recommend the book to others, but feel no particular inclination to finish.
Readable in a couple of hours, a novella demands far less time than a full-length novel: you can get through them in the same amount of time it takes to watch a film or two reality television programmes. If you read one in bed you can actually finish it in one go, as opposed to reading the same few chapters repeatedly because you keep forgetting what you covered the night before.
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January 29th, 2008 at 8:15 am
Two whole reality programs? Gah!
Thanks for saving me the time I’d need to read the entire essay.
January 29th, 2008 at 11:52 am
I’ve always thought the problem with overly long novels is the same as with overly long movies; very few of them actually justify their running time and consequently feel bloated. The first Pirates of the Caribbean movie justified its length; the others did not. So did The Matrix, V for Vendetta, and Titanic; none felt much longer than they needed to be (most clock in at barely more than ten minutes past two hours, but still, that’s a long time in those uncomfortable seats).
I can think of only a few long novels (American Gods, Needful Things, and The Time-Traveler’s Wife) that really worked in ways that deserved the length they used. Others? I’ve always said it’s kind of obvious Dickens was paid by the word, which is why he used so damned many he didn’t need.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
For me, the question inevitably is: where does a novella end and a novel start (and don’t say “on the editor’s desk – ha ha ha”)? Though it seems to have enough pages to be one, the text of McCarthy’s “The Road” seemed twice as large as what you’d normally get, thus making it proportionately about the same size as, say, Turgenev’s novella “First Love”. Is there a semi-universally accepted standard?
In the end, so long as it’s less than 300 pages, methinks this argument has more to do with marketing than the books themselves.
At least no one is advocating speed-reading.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
The guidelines/rules for the Hugo award delineate novel length as starting at 40,000 words. Novella, I think, is 25,000 up 39,999, and a novelette 15,000 to 24,999.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I think that the difference between most novels and a novella is editing. Didn’t Mark Twain say (about a letter, but i think it can apply to a book as well) I would have written you a short letter, but i didnt have the time. Will, I’ve read two of the three books on your list, i’m going to have to read the other one now. That would be American Gods. The other two rank amongst my favourites. (Have you read The Stand?)
January 30th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
What was it that Dr Johnson said of Milton’s Paradise Lost? No one has ever wished it longer than it is ….
And, right, no one is advocating speed-reading novels. There’s a lovely website on slow reading at http://johnmiedema.ca/