List of longest novels

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big manuscript
Marguerite Young with the manuscript of Miss MacIntosh, My Darling

Composing a list of longest novels yields different results depending on what criteria are used. 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.

Contents

Comparison of methods[edit]

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.[1] 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.[2] An arbitrary way is to assume that a standard formatted page with 12 pt Courier font and double-spaced lines is 250 words.[3] 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.

Novel definitions[edit]

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. Excluded are self-published, printed-on-demand, and vanity works, along with unpublished novels like Henry Darger's. A "single work" includes works thought of as one novel by the author, but published in multiple volumes for reasons of convenience, for example, L. Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth or J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Serial works, series (like Anthony Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire and Palliser novels), and novel cycles (such as the Harry Potter series which totals 1,084,170 words, just shorter than the longest novel), as well as record-grabbing stunts are not included.

List of longest novels[edit]

Book title Author Edition/Publisher Page count Page size Word count Language Special notes
In Search of Lost Time Marcel Proust

Modern Library

 4,211 pages, 7 volumes 8.6 inches (21.8 cm) x 8.5 inches (21.6 cm)[4] 70061200000000000001,200,000 (estimated[5]) French to English translation Guinness World Record Holder for Longest Novel. Uses estimated character count.[6]
Zettel's Traum Arno Schmidt Suhrkamp Verlag (2010 edition) 1,536 pages 14.1 inches (35.8 cm) x 10.8 inches (27.4 cm)[7] 70061000000000000001,000,000 (estimated) German More than 10,000,000 characters[8]
Kelidar Mahmoud Dowlatabadi Farhang Moaser (1984) 2,836 pages, 10 volumes 8.6 inches (21.8 cm) x 8.5 inches (21.6 cm) 7005950000000000000950,000 (estimated) Persian
Ponniyin Selvan Kalki Krishnamurthy Kalki 2,600 pages, 5 volumes[citation needed] 8.6 inches (21.8 cm) x 8.5 inches (21.6 cm) 7005900000000000000900,000 (estimated) Tamil
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)[9] 7005984870000000000984,870 (1964 estimate by The New York Times[10]) 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)[11] 7005852000000000000852,000[12] English 1975 winner of the Miles Franklin Award[13]
Women and Men Joseph McElroy Knopf (1987) 1,192 pages, hardcover 9 inches (22.9 cm) x 6 inches (15.2 cm)[14] 7005850000000000000850,000 Estimated[15]

700,000 Estimated[16]

 English
Sironia, Texas Madison Cooper Houghton Mifflin (1952) 1,731 pages, 2 volumes Unknown dimensions[17] 7005840000000000000840,000 (estimated[18][19]) English
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)[20] 7005800000000000000800,000 (estimate[21]) Chinese to English translation
Miss MacIntosh, My Darling Marguerite Young Scribners (1965) 1,198 pages Unknown dimensions 7005750000000000000750,000 Estimated[22] 576,000 Estimated[23] English
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)[24] 645,000 (estimate by the publisher and by The NY Times)[25] and by the author herself quoting printer's word count[26] English
Jean-Christophe Romain Rolland Henry Holt (1910,1911,1913) 1,666 pages, 3 volumes Unknown dimensions 7005610000000000000610,000 (estimated) French to English translation 1915 Nobel prize winning author/novel
Parallel Stories Péter Nádas Picador 1,133 pages, paperback 8.9 inches (22.6 cm) x 6 inches (15.2 cm)[27]  ? Hungarian to English translation
A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth Penguin Books 1,368 pages, paperback 8 inches (20.3 cm) x 5.5 inches (14 cm)[28] 7005593674000000000593,674[29] English Word count obtained from Amazon digitization (eBook) word count.
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)[30] 7005587287000000000587,287 New American Library Version[31] and 561,093 Oxford World's Classics[32] 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)[33] 7005559830000000000559,830[citation needed] Italian
Remembrance Rock Carl Sandburg Mariner Books 1,088 pages, paperback 9 inches (22.9 cm) x 6 inches (15.2 cm)[34] 7005532030000000000532,030[35] and 7005673000000000000673,000[36] English Word counts obtained from Amazon digitization (eBook) word count, and author's own count.
Les Misérables Victor Hugo Signet Classics 1,488 pages, paperback 6.9 inches (17.5 cm) x 4.2 inches (10.7 cm)[37] 7005530982000000000530,982[38] French to English translation
Horcynus Orca Stefano D'Arrigo Arnoldo Mondadori Editore 1,257 pages, hardcover 8.2 inches (21 cm) x 5.6 inches (14.2 cm)[39] 7005508751000000000508,751[40][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)[41] 484,001[42] English

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Longest novel". Guinnessworldrecords.com. 1912-01-01. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  2. ^ "Find the Agent Who Will Find You a Publisher". AgentQuery. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  3. ^ "Hitting the Target Word Count in Your College Admission Essay - For Dummies". Dummies.com. 2008-11-07. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  4. ^ "In Search of Lost Time: Proust 6-pack (Proust Complete): Marcel Proust: 9780812969641". Amazon.com. ASIN 0812969642. 
  5. ^ "All You Really Need To Know You Can Learn From ...". Chicago Tribune. 1997-11-05. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  6. ^ "Longest novel". Guinnessworldrecords.com. 1912-01-01. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  7. ^ "Zettel's Traum : Arno Schmidt : 9783518803103". Amazon.de. ASIN 3518803107. 
  8. ^ Volker Max Langbehn: Arno Schmidt's Zettel's Traum. An Analysis. (Publisher's webpage)
  9. ^ "Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady (Penguin Classics): Samuel Richardson, Angus Ross: 9780140432152". Amazon.com. ASIN 0140432159. 
  10. ^ Hal Boyle Genius isn't all thumbs, writer Boyle confides Florence, Alabama:Times Daily 23 April 1962 (via Google news archive)
  11. ^ "Poor Fellow My Country: Xavier Herbert: 9780006160298: Amazon.com: Books". Amazon.com. ASIN 0006160298. 
  12. ^ Poor fellow my ears The Age 29 December 1987 (via Google news archive)
  13. ^ Top award to Xavier Herbert Sydney Morning Herald 28 April 1976 (via Google news archive)
  14. ^ "Women and Men: Joseph McElroy: 9781564780232". Amazon.com. ASIN 1564780236. 
  15. ^ Karl, Frederick (Spring 1990). "Women and Men: More than a novel". Review of Contemporary Fiction. p. 181. 
  16. ^ Garth Risk Hallberg (2009-07-07). "The lost postmodernist: Joseph McElroy". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  17. ^ Nichols, Lewis (1952-11-09). "Talk with Madison Cooper - Review". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  18. ^ "Author a bachelor; so he has time to write longest novel". Chicago Tribune. 1952-11-16. Retrieved 2012-10-31.  (via Pqasb.pqarchiver.com)
  19. ^ 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)
  20. ^ "Three Kingdoms (Chinese Classics, Classic Novel in 4-Volumes): Luo Guanzhong, Moss Roberts: 9787119005904". Amazon.com. ASIN 7119005901. 
  21. ^ "Movie Review: Red Cliff". Arkansasonline.com. 2009-12-25. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  22. ^ Robert McG. Thomas Jr (1995-11-20). "Marguerite Young, 87, author and icon, dies". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2012-11-04. 
  23. ^ Walters, Raymond, Jr (12 September 1965). "In and out of books". The New York Times. p. BR8. 
  24. ^ "Atlas Shrugged: Ayn Rand: 9780451191144". Amazon.com. ASIN 0451191145. 
  25. ^ Nichols, Lewis (1957-10-13). "Talk With Ayn Rand - Author's Query". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  26. ^ Rand, Ayn. "The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers". Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  27. ^ Péter Nádas. "Parallel Stories". ASIN 1250013909. 
  28. ^ "A Suitable Boy: Vikram Seth: 9780060925000". Amazon.com. ASIN 0060925000. 
  29. ^ "A Suitable Boy: Vikram Seth: 9780060925000". Amazon.com. ASIN 0060925000. 
  30. ^ "War and Peace (Oxford World's Classics): Leo Tolstoy, Louise and Aylmer Maude, Amy Mandelker: 9780199232765". Amazon.com. ASIN 0199232768. 
  31. ^ Tolstoy, Leo; Dunnigan, Ann. "War and Peace". Perma-bound.com. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  32. ^ "War and Peace (Oxford World's Classics): Leo Tolstoy, Henry Gifford, Louise Maude, Aylmer Maude: 9780192833983". ASIN 0192833987. 
  33. ^ OPAC Archive
  34. ^ "Remembrance Rock: Carl Sandburg: 9780156763905". Amazon. ASIN 0156763907. 
  35. ^ "Remembrance Rock: Carl Sandburg: 9780156763905". Amazon. ASIN 0156763907. 
  36. ^ author, quoted in Corwin, Norman (1961). The World of Carl Sandburg. Harcourt, Brace & World. p. 8. 
  37. ^ "Les Miserables - Books by Victor Hugo". Penguin. 1987-03-03. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  38. ^ "Les Miserables: Hugo, Victor; Fahnestock, Lee; MacAfee, Norman". Perma-bound.com. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  39. ^ "HORCYNUS Orca di D'Arrigo, Stefano " Rete bibliotecaria della Provincia di Padova". bibliotecaria della Provincia di Padova. 2012-07-22. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  40. ^ "TNTforum -> Stefano D'Arrigo - Horcynus Orca". Forum.tntvillage.scambioetico.org. Retrieved 2012-10-31. 
  41. ^ "Infinite Jest: David Foster Wallace: 9780316066525". Amazon. ASIN 0316066524. 
  42. ^ "Infinite Jest: David Foster Wallace: 9780316066525". Amazon. ASIN 0316066524. 

References[edit]

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