The novella

The novella is commonly known as a work of fiction falling somewhere in length between a short story and a novel. The first novellas started in Italy during the Middle Ages and were quite a bit shorter than what is considered a novella today. These tales were often gathered in collections and some authors would use a frame story to tie the tales together, such as in Giovanni Boccccio's Decameron or The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The German version, called a Novelle, was very successful beginning in the 18th century. According to Encyclopedia Brittannica, these stories were "characterized by brevity, self-contained plots that end on a note of irony, a literate and facile style, restraint of emotion, and objective rather than subjective presentation." The novella was established as a major literary genre from this point forward.

Do you have a favorite novella? Let us know! Here are a few classic and contemporary novellas available at the Austin Public Library:

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy

The Scribe: A Novella by Francine Rivers

A Soul in a Bottle by Tim Powers

Agamemnon's Daughter: A Novella and Stories by Ismail Kadare

Come Together, Fall Apart: A Novella and Stories by Cristina Henríquez

Becoming Abigail: A Novella by Christopher Abani