roman à clef

American  

[raw-mah na kle] / rɔ mɑ na ˈklɛ /

noun

French.

romans à clef plural

1. a novel that represents historical events and characters under the guise of fiction.

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roman à clef British  

/ rɔmɑ̃ a kle /

noun

1. a novel in which real people are depicted under fictitious names

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roman à clef Cultural  

1. A novel in which actual people and places are disguised as fictional characters. Roman à clef is French for “novel with a key.”

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• romans à clef
  plural

Etymology

Origin of roman à clef

First recorded in 1880–85; literally “novel with a key,” the key being the connection between the fictional and nonfictional elements of the novel

Example Sentences

There is no more quotable novel about Hollywood than Carrie Fisher’s roman à clef, “Postcards From the Edge.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2024

The story quoted a few skeptics—among them the writer Harry Monaghan, who’d written a well-received roman à clef five years prior, and who had a regular column in the Post.

From Slate • May 27, 2023

It's an adorable kind of roman à clef.

From Salon • Nov. 28, 2022

Long was Willie Stark in Robert Penn Warren’s 1946 roman à clef, “All the King’s Men.”

From Washington Post • Nov. 15, 2022

Charlotte's success, indeed, was so stunning that for all but sixty years Villette has passed for a roman à clef, the novel, not only of experience, but of personal experience.

From The Three Brontës by Sinclair, May