A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. Fiction is the telling of stories which are not real More specifically fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative, one of the four basic Rhetorical modes. For the Wikipedia guideline regarding editing articles see WikipediaManual of Style. A narrative or story is a construct created in a suitable format (written spoken poetry prose images song Theater, or Dance) that describes a sequence of A novelette (or novelet) is a piece of short Prose fiction The distinction between a novelette and other literary forms like a Novella, is usually based A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story While there is some disagreement of what length defines a novella, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000. Science Fiction Writers of America, or SFWA (ˈsɪfwə or /ˈsɛfwə/ was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight. The Nebula Award is an award given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA for the best Science fiction / Fantasy fiction ^[1]

Although the novella is a common literary genre in several European languages, it is less common in English. A literary genre is a category of literary composition Genres may be determined by Literary technique, tone, Content, or even (as in the case of fiction Most of the many Languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European Language family. English-speaking readers may be most familiar with the novellas of John Steinbeck, particularly Of Mice and Men and The Pearl, Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis and In the Penal Colony, George Orwell's Animal Farm, Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's, Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. John Steinbeck III (February 27 1902—December 20 1968 was one of the best-known and most widely read American writers of the 20th century Of Mice and Men is a Novella written by Nobel Prize -winning author John Steinbeck. The Pearl is a 1947 Novella by American author John Steinbeck The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung is a Novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915 "In the Penal Colony" ( German: "In der Strafkolonie" is a Short story in German by Franz Kafka. Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950 who used the Pseudonym George Orwell, was an English writer Animal Farm is a Novel by George Orwell, and is the most famous satirical Allegory of Soviet Totalitarianism Truman Capote (ˈtruːmən kəˈpoʊti ( 30 September, 1924, New Orleans Louisiana – 25 August, 1984, Los Angeles Breakfast at Tiffany's is a Novella by Truman Capote published in 1958. Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21 1899 — July 2 1961 was an American novelist short-story writer, and Journalist. The Old Man and the Sea is a Novella (just over 100 pages in length by Ernest Hemingway, written in Cuba in 1951 and published in Paul Thomas Mann ( June The Novella Death in Venice was written by the German author Thomas Mann, and was first published in 1912 as Der Tod in Venedig. Philip Milton Roth (born March 19, 1933, Newark New Jersey) is an American novelist Goodbye Columbus (1959 is the title of the first book published by the American novelist Philip Roth, a collection of six stories Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924 was a Polish-born English novelist Heart of Darkness is a Novella written by Polish-born writer Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski) Jack Kerouac has written many novellas such as Pic, Tristessa, The Subterraneans, and Satori in Paris. Jack Kerouac ( March 12 1922 &ndash October 21 1969) was an American Novelist, Writer, Poet, and Pic is a novel by Jack Kerouac, first published in 1971 Pic is the story of a small child Pictorial Review Jackson from North Carolina This article refers to the short novel by Jack Kerouac For the Smashing Pumpkins song see Tristessa (song Tristessa The Subterraneans is a 1958 Novella by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. Satori in Paris, a 1966 novel by Jack Kerouac. A short semi-autobiographical tale of a man who travels to Paris then Brittany to do research on his genealogy Most of the best-known works of H. P. Lovecraft are novellas, including The Shadow out of Time, The Dunwich Horror and The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy "The Shadow Out of Time" is a Short story by American Horror fiction writer H " The Dunwich Horror" is a Short story by H P Lovecraft. "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" is a Novella by H P Lovecraft.

Like the English word "novel", the English word "novella" is derived from the Italian word "novella" (plural: "novelle"), for a tale, a piece of news. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. As the etymology suggests, novellas originally were news of town and country life worth repeating for amusement and edification. Etymology is the study of the History of Words &mdash when they entered a language from what source and how their form and meaning have changed over time

History

As a literary genre, the novella's origin lay in the early Renaissance literary work of the Italians and the French. A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Principally, by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), author of The Decameron (1353)—one hundred novelle told by ten people, seven women and three men, fleeing the Black Death by escaping from Florence to the Fiesole hills, in 1348; and by the French Queen, Marguerite de Navarre (1492–1549), [aka Marguerite de Valois, et. The Decameron (subtitle Prencipe Galeotto) is a collection of 100 Novellas by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio, probably begun in The Black Death, or the Black Plague, was one of the deadliest Pandemics in human history widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany List of current queens regnant A queen regnant (plural "queens regnant" is qualifying reference to a female Monarch possessing and exercising all of the monarchal Marguerite de Navarre ( April 11, 1492 &ndash December 21, 1549) also known as Marguerite of Angouleme and Margaret alii. ], author of Heptaméron (1559)—seventy-two original French tales (structured like The Decameron). The Heptameron is a collection of 72 short stories written in French by Marguerite of Navarre (1492-1549

Not until the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth centuries did writers fashion the novella into a literary genre structured by precepts and rules. The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar A writer is anyone who creates a written work although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally as well as those who have written in many different forms Contemporaneously, the Germans were the most active writers of the Novelle (German: "Novelle"; plural: "Novellen"). Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. For the German writer, a novella is a fictional narrative of indeterminate length—a few pages to hundreds—restricted to a single, suspenseful event, situation, or conflict leading to an unexpected turning point (Wendepunkt), provoking a logical, but surprising end; Novellen tend to contain a concrete symbol, which is the narration's steady point. Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. A narrative or story is a construct created in a suitable format (written spoken poetry prose images song Theater, or Dance) that describes a sequence of

Novella versus novel

In German, Norwegian, Danish and Dutch, the word for "novella" is novelle and the word for "novel" is Roman. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Norwegian ( norsk) is a North Germanic Language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname In French "novella" is nouvelle (but a "nouvelle" is actually a short story, not a novella) and "novel" is roman; in Italian too "short story" is novella and "novel" is romanzo, while "novella" rather corresponds to romanzo breve. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. In Romanian "novella" is nuvelǎ and "novel" is roman. Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance In Swedish "short story" is novell and "novel" is roman. Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the In Danish and Norwegian"novella"/"short story" is novelle and "novel" is roman. Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the Norwegian ( norsk) is a North Germanic Language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language In Finnish "short story" is novelli and "novel" is romaani. Finnish ( or suomen kieli) is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland (92% As of 2006) and by ethnic Finns outside In Russian, novella is "povest" (повесть), while "novel" is "roman" (роман); short story is "rasskaz" (рассказ) and it is the extremely brief form that is called "novella" ('новелла'). Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages In Polish "short story" is nowela and "novel" is powieść. Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. This etymological distinction avoids confusion of the literatures and the forms, with the novel being the more important, established fictional form. Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter The Austrian writer Stefan Zweig's (1881–1942) Die Schachnovelle (1942) (literally, "The Chess Novella", but translated in 1944 as The Royal Game) is an example of a title naming its genre. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Stefan Zweig ( November 28, 1881, Vienna, Austria &ndash February 22, 1942, Petrópolis, Brazil) The Royal Game (Or Chess Story; Schachnovelle in the original German) is a Novella by Austrian author Stefan

Commonly, longer novellas are referred to as novels; The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde and Heart of Darkness are sometimes called novels, as are many science fiction works such as The War of the Worlds and Armageddon 2419 A.D. Occasionally, longer works are referred to as novellas, with some academics positing 100,000 words as the novella‒novel threshold. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a Novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886 Heart of Darkness is a Novella written by Polish-born writer Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski) The War of the Worlds (1898 by H G Wells, is an early Science fiction Novel which describes an invasion of England by Armageddon 2419 AD is Philip Francis Nowlan 's Novella which first appeared in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories However, since this figure extrapolates to about 500 pages, such an interpretation would only be made by someone who believes that no literary work of less than 500 pages can rightly be called a novel. Conversely, an interpretation of a novella as being 10,000 words or longer means a limit of about 50 pages, which is far more commonly thought of as short-story territory. A better set of parameters is this: 1-99 pages/short story. 100-199 pages (or approximately 20,000-40,000 words)/novella. 200 or more pages/novel. This difficulty in defining the empirical parameters of the novella genre is indicative of its shifting and diverse nature as an art form.

Stephen King, in his introduction to Different Seasons, an anthology of four of his novellas, has called the novella "an ill-defined and disreputable literary banana republic"^[2]; King notes the difficulties of selling a novella in the commercial publishing world, since it does not fit the typical length requirements of either magazine or book publishers. Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American Author, Screenwriter, Musician, Columnist, Different Seasons ( 1982) is a collection of four Stephen King Novellas with a more serious bent than the Horror fiction for which Despite these problems, however, the novella's length provides unique advantages; in the introduction to a novella anthology titled Sailing to Byzantium, Robert Silverberg writes:

[The novella] is one of the richest and most rewarding of literary forms. Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is a prolific American author best known for writing Science fiction. . . it allows for more extended development of theme and character than does the short story, without making the elaborate structural demands of the full-length book. Thus it provides an intense, detailed exploration of its subject, providing to some degree both the concentrated focus of the short story and the broad scope of the novel. ^[3]

In his essay "Briefly, the case for the novella", Canadian author George Fetherling (who wrote the novella Tales of Two Cities) said that to reduce the novella to nothing more than a short novel is like "saying a pony is a baby horse. " ^[4]

See also

• List of novellas
• Novelette

References