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Brevity, Part 1: The Malady of Death

  • A. D. Jameson

    • The Grove Press edition of Margeurite Duras’s The Malady of Death (1982, English trans. 1986) is 64 pages long, and roughly 5000 words. It says “A Novel” on the front. At most, there are one-hundred words on any given page.

    I first read this while waiting for some Chinese take-out

    At the time, Duras stood somewhat alone. But today it’s not uncommon to see novels that are 10,000 words or less, and that run under 100 pages (although typesetting usually keeps them over 50). Not to mention that many novels that are under 20,000 words long.

    So: How long is a novel, in your opinion? How many pages, how many words?

    • A. D. Jameson is the author of five books, most recently I FIND YOUR LACK OF FAITH DISTURBING: STAR WARS AND THE TRIUMPH OF GEEK CULTURE and CINEMAPS: AN ATLAS OF 35 GREAT MOVIES (with artist Andrew DeGraff). Last May, he received his Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the Program for Writers at UIC.

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