It appeared for a while that the novella was dead. A form length so often employed by writers of the the late 1800s and early 1900s, the novella in the modern day is sometimes looked down upon. Most of the major publishing houses won’t touch them unless you’re already a big name, they’re too long for literary journals to print, so the general consensus is either trim it down or fatten it up. But the novella has a long and worthy history. Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, these (among others) are the great novellas we know. The modern novella, however, is not as easy to put one’s finger on.

Then I found John Madera’s excellent essay on the subject, Call Me Fish-Owl: Reflecting on the Novella’s neither Fish nor Fowl Status. Mostly Madera addresses what it means to be a novella; that is to say, how long is a novella truly? This is something not easily determined and it’s debatable whether or not this even needs to be determined. Following his treatise is a well-compiled list of over sixty writers, editors, and publishers and their favorite novellas. Just recently, Madera published an addendum to his original essay called Little Monsters: Recommended Novellas. Here, he gives us even more writers and their favorite novellas. John deserves heaps of praise for putting this all together and you should certainly check it out.

With publishers like Melville House and their Classic Novellas and Contemporary Novellas series, the Miami University Press Novella Contest, and blogs such as John Madera’s championing their return, novellas definitely have a shot in the modern publishing world. When you don’t quite want to commit to a 300+ page novel, but a short story just isn’t enough to satiate your appetite, where do you go?

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Tags: billy budd, classic novellas, contemporary novellas, heart of darkness, herman melvilla, john madera, john steinbeck, joseph conrad, literary journals, literature, melville house, miami university press, novella, novella contest, of mice and men