List of longest novels

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File:Marguerite Young with manuscript.jpg
Marguerite Young with the manuscript of Miss MacIntosh, My Darling

This is a list of the longest novels over 500,000 words published through a mainstream publisher. The longest novel is Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus, originally published (1649–54) in 10 parts, each part in three volumes. Artamène is generally attributed to Madeleine de Scudéry.[1]

Composing a list of longest novels yields different results depending on whether pages, words or characters are counted. Length of a book is typically associated with its size—specifically page count—leading many to assume the largest and thickest book equates to its length. Word counts are a direct way to measure the length of a novel by a measure that is unaffected by variations of format and page size.

Comparison of methods

Three possible ways to determine length exist and each has its own method for determining length. Character counts are at best estimations of spaces, written characters and punctuation; Guinness World Records uses this criterion.[2] Word counts is another method that counts each word and omits punctuation, but still considered an estimation for length. Using computer software to count words is the currently preferred method for academia and publications.[3] An arbitrary way is to assume that a standard formatted page with 12 pt Courier font and double-spaced lines is 250 words.[4] Due to formatting, page counts are subject to change from font, style, formatting or paper size of the published work and cannot be considered a measure of length despite it being the easiest physical indicator of length. For the purposes of this list, word counts are ideal. Page counts are a relative indicator of length; for proper comparison the page size will be included.

Definitions

What counts as a novel is another variable. For the purposes of the list, a "novel" is defined as a "single work" in print or electronic form that has been published through a mainstream publisher, one that has acquired publishing rights from authors. A "single work" includes works thought of as one novel by the author, but published in multiple volumes for reasons of convenience.

Excluded are self-published, printed-on-demand, vanity works, unpublished novels like Henry Darger's, series like the Chronicles of Barsetshire, novel cycles such as Harry Potter, and record-grabbing stunts.[clarification needed]

List

Book title Author Edition/publisher Page count Page size Word count Language Notes

−
Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus Georges and/or[5] Madeleine de Scudéry Augustin Courbé, 1649–53 13,095 pages, 10 volumes[6] unknown dimensions 1,954,300[7] French
Het Bureau J. J. Voskuil Van Oorschot, 1996-2000 5058 pages,

7 volumes

 126 x 200mm 1,590,000[8] Dutch
Gordana Marija Jurić Zagorka Školska knjiga, 2007 8,768 pages, 12 volumes[9][10][11] unknown dimensions 1,400,000 (estimated) Croatian Longest Croatian novel
À la recherche du temps perdu Marcel Proust Gallimard (Collection Folio edition, 1988–1990) 3,031 pages, 7 volumes[12] 7.0 inches (17.8 cm) x 5.0 inches (12.7 cm)[13] 1,267,069[14] French Guinness World Record holder for longest novel. Uses estimated character count of 9,609,000 characters.[15]
Zettels Traum Arno Schmidt Suhrkamp Verlag (2010 edition) 1,536 pages 14.1 inches (35.8 cm) x 10.8 inches (27.4 cm)[16] 1,100,000 (estimated) German 6,800,000 characters;[17] longest novel published in one volume
Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady Samuel Richardson Penguin Classics (1986) 1,534 pages, paperback 9.2 inches (23.4 cm) x 5.8 inches (14.7 cm)[18] 984,870 (1964 estimate by The New York Times[19]) English
Poor Fellow My Country Xavier Herbert HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) 1,466 pages, hardcover 8.1 inches (20.6 cm) x 5.6 inches (14.2 cm)[20] 852,000[21] English 1975 winner of the Miles Franklin Award[22]
Women and Men Joseph McElroy Knopf (1987) 1,192 pages, hardcover 9 inches (22.9 cm) x 6 inches (15.2 cm)[23] 850,000 (estimated[24])

700,000 (estimated[25])

 English
Sironia, Texas Madison Cooper Houghton Mifflin (1952) 1,731 pages, 2 volumes Unknown dimensions[26] 840,000 (estimated[27][28]) English
三國演義 (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) Luo Guanzhong Foreign Languages Press (1995) 2,340 pages, 4 volumes 7.2 inches (18.3 cm) x 4.5 inches (11.4 cm)[29] 800,000 (estimate[30]) Chinese to English translation
Miss MacIntosh, My Darling Marguerite Young Scribners (1965) 1,198 pages Unknown dimensions 750,000 (estimated[31]) 576,000 (estimated[32]) English
Sir Charles Grandison Samuel Richardson Oxford World's Classics (1986) 1,647 pages 4.6 x 2.1 x 7.2 inches 750,000 (estimated) English
Les Misérables Victor Hugo Gutenberg ebook edition 655,478[33] French
Varney the Vampire James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest Edward Lloyd (1845–47) 866 pages Unknown dimensions 667,000[34] English Originally published anonymously, in serial "penny dreadful" pamphlets. Present-day editions are divided regarding authorship.
Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand Signet Books (1996 edition) 1,088 pages, paperback 6.9 inches (17.5 cm) x 4.1 inches (10.4 cm)[35] 645,000 (estimate by the publisher and by The New York Times[36] and by the author herself quoting printer's word count[37]) English
Jean-Christophe Romain Rolland Henry Holt (1910,1911,1913) 1,666 pages, 3 volumes Unknown dimensions 610,000 (estimated) French to English translation 1915 Nobel prize winning author/novel
"...And Ladies of the Club" Helen Hooven Santmyer Ohio State University Press (1982) 1,344 pages Unknown dimensions 600,000 (newspaper estimate)[38] 1984 surprise bestseller
A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth Penguin Books 1,368 pages, paperback 8 inches (20.3 cm) x 5.5 inches (14 cm)[39] 593,674[39] English Word count obtained from Amazon digitization (eBook) word count.
F. L. Věk Alois Jirásek Československý spisovatel (last printed edition, 1976–1977) 1,870 pages (1972 ed.) Unknown dimensions 571,350 Czech Word count obtained from 2011 eBook.[40]
Война и мир (War and Peace) Leo Tolstoy Oxford World's Classics 1,440 pages, paperback 7.6 inches (19.3 cm) x 5.1 inches (13.0 cm)[41] 587,287 New American Library Version[42] and 561,093 Oxford World's Classics[43] Russian to English translation Edition and translation largely account for differences in word count.
Il mulino del Po Riccardo Bacchelli Arnoldo Mondadori Editore 2,113 pages, paperback 8 inches (20 cm) x 5.4 inches (14 cm)[44] 559,830[citation needed] Italian
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace Back Bay Books 1,104 pages, paperback 9.2 inches (23.4 cm) x 6 inches (15.2 cm)[45] 543,709 English
Remembrance Rock Carl Sandburg Mariner Books 1,088 pages, paperback 9 inches (22.9 cm) x 6 inches (15.2 cm)[46] 532,030[46] and 673,000[47] English Word counts obtained from Amazon digitization (eBook) word count, and author's own count.
To Green Angel Tower Tad Williams DAW Books 1,083 pages, hardcover 520,000[48] English Word counts obtained from Amazon digitization (eBook) word count
Horcynus Orca Stefano D'Arrigo Arnoldo Mondadori Editore 1,257 pages, hardcover 8.2 inches (21 cm) x 5.6 inches (14.2 cm)[49] 508,751[50][citation needed] Italian
Párhuzamos történetek (Parallel Stories) Péter Nádas Picador 1,133 pages, paperback 8.9 inches (22.6 cm) x 6 inches (15.2 cm)[51] 500,000 (estimated)[52] Hungarian to English translation 2,842,213 characters (in the original Hungarian)[53]

The Story of the Stone (1973–1980), by Cao Xueqin, translated from Chinese to English by David Hawkes and John Minford, consists of five volumes and 2,480 pages.[54] A word count is not available.

See also

  • Four Great Classical Novels, an overview of four very long Chinese classics.
  • Joseph and His Brothers, by Thomas Mann, is nearly 1500 pages long in English translation by John E. Wood. Originally published in four installments, the work does constitute a true, continuous novel rather than a serialization.
  • The Neapolitan Novels series, by Elena Ferrante, is more than 1,700 pages long in its English translation. Published in four volumes, it is considered by its author "a single novel, published serially for reasons of length and duration".[55]

References

  1. ↑ The name of her brother Georges appeared on the title page, and he is sometimes credited as a co-author.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Scholarly consensus does not exist: Georges' name is on the original editions, it is commonly believed his sister Madeleine was the true author, yet no close textual analysis has been attempted. See the summary at Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Word count of the online edition, using curl http://www.artamene.org/documents/cyrus[1-10].txt | wc -w
  8. ↑ source: Loads o' Lists: 21 Longest Novels (by word count)
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ See Éditions d'À la recherche du temps perdu#Tableau de correspondance, French Wikipedia.
  13. ↑ Bibliothéque Nationale de France catalogue. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Günter Jürgensmeier (2013), "Das verfluchte Buch. Über das gefahrvolle Wagnis, Zettel's Traum zu setzen" (in German), Zettelkasten 27. Aufsätze und Arbeiten zum Werk Arno Schmidts (Wiesenbach: Bangert & Metzler): pp. 42, ISBN 978-3-924147-64-8 
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Hal Boyle Genius isn't all thumbs, writer Boyle confides Florence, Alabama:Times Daily 23 April 1962 (via Google news archive)
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Poor fellow my ears The Age 29 December 1987 (via Google news archive)
  22. ↑ Top award to Xavier Herbert Sydney Morning Herald 28 April 1976 (via Google news archive)
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (via Pqasb.pqarchiver.com)
  28. ↑ Author of 1,800 page novel in New York looking after plans for publication of big book The Times-News 27 October 1952 (via Google news archive)
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Calculated from Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. the complete text at the University of Virginia. Note that some on-line editions are incomplete.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Prague Public Library catalogue: F. L. Věk (in five volumes)Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ OPAC Archive
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ author, quoted in Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Based on other English-Hungarian pairs of the same piece of literature (such as authoritative translations of The Little Prince), the English version usually has 1/6 to 1/3 more words. Since the Hungarian original has 412,330 words, the English version of this novel may be estimated to have 480,000 to 550,000 words.
  53. ↑ Hungarian original text in full (copied into Microsoft Word, the left-side notes of the volume and the page (kötet, o[ldal]) as well as the bibliographical data at the top-right corner removed, motto and foreword left)
  54. ↑ (Penguin Classics and Bloomington: Indiana University Press, five volumes, 1973–1980. ISBN 0-14-044293-6, ISBN 0-14-044326-6, ISBN 0-14-044370-3; ISBN 0-14-044371-1, ISBN 0-14-044372-X).
  55. ↑ Jenny Turner, "The Secret Sharer. Elena Ferrante's existential fiction", Harper's Magazine, October 2014.

External links

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