antinovel

[an-tee-nov-uhl, an-tahy-]

noun

1. a literary work in which the author rejects the use of traditional elements of novel structure, especially in regard to development of plot and character.

antinovel

/ ˈæntɪˌnɒvəl /

noun

1. Also: anti-roman.  nouveau roman. a type of prose fiction in which conventional or traditional novelistic elements are rejected

Other Word Forms

• antinovelist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of antinovel¹

First recorded in 1955–60; anti- + novel ¹

Example Sentences

His antinovel resembles books that split commentary on a writer with more personal material — books like Julian Barnes’s novel “Flaubert’s Parrot” and Geoff Dyer’s quasi-biography of D.H.

From New York Times

“A historical antinovel: overwriting: a stockpot with bony prefixes to season a greasy literary field that has run out of meat.”

From New York Times