# fragmentary novel a fragmentary novel is a novel made of fragments vignettes segments documents or chapters that can be read in isolation and/or as part of the greater whole of the book. these novels typically lack a traditional plot or set of characters and often are the product of a cultural crisis (whatever that means.) the oldest fragmentary novels are part of the (proto)-picaresque novel tradition. some of these fragmented novels are also categorised as short story collections or epistolary novels. some fragmentary novels are (posthumously) published unfinished novels or are partially lost novels # examples **+** petronius - satyricon (late 1st century ad) (incomplete) **+** apuleius - the golden arts (late second century ad) **+** françois rabelais - the life of gargantua and of pantagruel (1532-1564) **+** laurence sterne - tristram shandy (1759) **+** friedrich schiller - the ghost-seer (1789) **+** novalis - heinrich von ofterdingen (1802) **+** karl marx - skorpion und felix humoristischer roman (scorpion and felix) (1837) **+** henri murger - scenes of bohemian life (1849) **+** william makepeace thackeray - a shabby genteel story (1857) (unfinished) **+** jane austen - the watsons (1871) (unfinished in 1805) **+** gustave flaubert - bouvard et pecuchet (1881) **+** sherwood anderson - winesburg ohio (1919) **+** ernest hemingway - in our time (1925) **+** john dos passos - manhattan transfer (1925) **+** franz kafka - amerika (1927) (unfinished) **+** giorgio de chirico - hebdomeros (hebdomeros the metaphysician) (1929) **+** evelyn waugh - vile bodies (1930) **+** flann o'brien - at swim-two-birds (1939) **+** thomas wolfe - the hills beyond (1941) **+** william faulkner - go down moses (1942) **+** robert musil - the man without qualities (1943) **+** raymond queneau - exercises in style (1947) **+** ray bradbury - the martian chronicles (1950) **+** a.e. van vogt - the voyage of the space beagle (1950) **+** william s. burroughs - naked lunch (1959) **+** vladimir nabokov - pale fire (1962) **+** julio cortázar - hopscotch (1963) **+** mikhail bulgakov - the master and margarita (1967) (unfinished in 1940) **+** jerzy kosiński - steps (1968) **+** tomás rivera - …y no se lo tragó la tierra (…and the earth did not devour ir) (1971) **+** italo calvino - invisible cities (1972) **+** renata adler - speedboat (1976) **+** georges perec - life a user's manual (1978) **+** sandra cisneros - the house on mango street (1983) **+** milorad pavić - dictionary of the khazars (1984) **+** truman capote - answered prayers (1986) **+** david markson - wittgenstein's mistress (1988) **+** w. g. sebald - vertigo (1990) **+** a. s. byatt - possession (1990) **+** tim o'brien - the things they carried (1990) **+** michael ondaatje - the english patient (1992) **+** mark z. danielewski - house of leaves (2000) **+** ian mcewan - atonement (2001) **+** david mitchell - cloud atlas (2004) **+** roberto bolaño - 2666 (2004) **+** david foster wallace - the pale king (2011) (unfinished in 2008) **+** zadie smith - nw (2012) **+** michael chabon - moonglow (2016) **+** jenny offill - weather (2020) # references 1. wood carl (1973.) "in our time: hemingway's fragmentary novel." neuphilologische mitteilungen. 74 (4): 716-726. jstor 43342874 2. power chris (2016-11-03.) "refreshing breaks: how fragmented stories can be fulfilling reading." the guardian. retrieved 2018-04-14 3. gioia ted. "the rise of the fragmented novel." fractiousfiction.com. retrieved 2018-04-14 4. "narrative patterning : alternate history and fragmented narrative - cognitive edge." cognitive edge. retrieved 2018-04-14 5. booker m. keith (2000.) ulysses capitalism and colonialism: reading joyce after the cold war. greenwood publishing group. 434 6. "the shattered novel: rules of fragmented fiction by samantha edmonds - grist." grist. 2017-10-29. retrieved 2018-04-14 7. "what's a picaresque? the top 5 novels." publishersweekly.com. retrieved 2018-04-14 8. mancing howard (1979.) "the picaresque novel: a protean form." college literature. 6 (3): 182-204. jstor 25111277 9. lane anthony (2017-03-06.) "reading jane austen's final unfinished novel." the new yorker. issn 0028-792x. retrieved 2018-04-14 10. laurence talairach-vielmas (2014-06-02.) "saverio tomaiuolo victorian unfinished novels: the imperfect page." miranda (in french) (9.) issn 2108-6559 11. victorian unfinished novels - the imperfect page: s. tomaiuolo: palgrave macmillan # external links **+** fractious fiction by ted gioia - dead link // republic of bob