Forms of the Novella

This anthology examines the novella as a distinct literary structure situated between the short story and the novel. David H. Richter provides a theoretical framework that categorizes shorter fiction by its formal properties, focusing on how narrative pacing and character development function within limited page counts. The collection pairs Richter’s critical commentary with ten complete texts, including Nikolai Gogol’s The Overcoat, Herman Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener, and Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. The selections illustrate various technical approaches to the form, such as Henry James’s psychological realism in The Pupil and James Joyce’s use of epiphany in The Dead.

Literature students and instructors use this volume to analyze the mechanics of intermediate-length prose. Readers gain a library of high-caliber fiction alongside analytical tools to distinguish between episodic and unified storytelling. By studying these specific examples, the reader learns how authors like Joseph Conrad and Thomas Pynchon manipulate time and suspense differently than they do in full-length novels. The book provides a technical vocabulary for discussing narrative economy and structural closure in modern fiction.