Novels & Short Stories, LIF-MIS

novels and short stories have been enchanting and transporting readers for a great many years. There's a little something for everyone: within these two genres of literature, a wealth of types and styles can be found, including historical, epistolary, romantic, Gothic, and realist works, along with many more.
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Novels & Short Stories Encyclopedia Articles By Title

Life of Pi
Life of Pi, novel written by Yann Martel, published in 2001. A fantasy which won the Booker Prize in 2002, Life......
Light in August
Light in August, novel by William Faulkner, published in 1932, the seventh in the series set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha......
Light That Failed, The
The Light That Failed, novel by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1890. The book, which includes autobiographical elements,......
Lilli burlero
Lilli burlero, 17th-century English political song that played a part in driving James II from the throne in 1688.......
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, fantasy novel for children by C.S. Lewis, published in 1950. Peter, Susan,......
list of fictional characters
This is an alphabetically ordered list of fictional characters, including the titles of works in which they appear.......
list of James Bond films
James Bond is a fictional character created by British novelist Ian Fleming. Fleming introduced Bond, a secret......
list of novels
This is a list of novels ordered chronologically by century and alphabetically by book title. See also novel and...
list of science-fiction writers
This is a list of science-fiction writers, ordered alphabetically by...
literary criticism
literary criticism, the reasoned consideration of literary works and issues. It applies, as a term, to any argumentation......
literary sketch
literary sketch, short prose narrative, often an entertaining account of some aspect of a culture written by someone......
Little Dorrit
Little Dorrit, novel by Charles Dickens, published serially from 1855 to 1857 and in book form in 1857. The novel......
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Little Lord Fauntleroy, sentimental novel for children written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, published serially in......
Little Minister, The
The Little Minister, popular sentimental novel by J.M. Barrie, published in 1891 and dramatized in 1897. The Little......
Little Prince, The
The Little Prince, fable and modern classic by French aviator and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry that was published......
Little Women
Little Women, novel for children by Louisa May Alcott, published in two parts in 1868 and 1869. Her sister May......
Llorona, La
La Llorona, a mythological woman in Mexican and Latin American oral tradition whose siren-like wails are said to......
Lolita
Lolita, novel by Vladimir Nabokov, published in 1955 in France. Upon its American publication in 1958, Lolita created......
Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, The
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, novel by Brian Moore, published in 1955 as Judith Hearne, about an aging Irish......
Look Homeward, Angel
Look Homeward, Angel, novel by Thomas Wolfe, published in 1929. It is a thinly veiled autobiography. The novel......
Lord Jim
Lord Jim, novel by Joseph Conrad, published in 1900. The work, originally intended as a short story, grew to a......
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies, novel by William Golding, published in 1954. The book explores the dark side of human nature......
Lord of the Rings, The
The Lord of the Rings, fantasy novel by J.R.R. Tolkien initially published in three parts as The Fellowship of......
Lorna Doone
Lorna Doone, historical romance by R.D. Blackmore, published in 1869. Set in the wilds of Exmoor (northern Devonshire,......
Lost Generation
Lost Generation, a group of American writers who came of age during World War I and established their literary......
Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, The
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, novel by Heinrich Böll, published in 1974 in the German weekly newsmagazine Der......
Lost Horizon
Lost Horizon, novel by James Hilton, published in 1933. Hugh Conway, a veteran member of the British diplomatic......
Lost Lady, A
A Lost Lady, novel by Willa Cather, published in 1923, depicting the decline of the American pioneer spirit and......
Lottery, The
The Lottery, short story by Shirley Jackson, published in The New Yorker in June 1948 and included the following......
Love in the Time of Cholera
Love in the Time of Cholera, novel by Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1985 as El amor en los tiempos del cólera.......
Loved One, The
The Loved One, satiric novel by Evelyn Waugh, published in 1948. The novel relates the experiences of a young Englishman......
Lucien Leuwen
Lucien Leuwen, unfinished novel by Stendhal, published posthumously in 1894. It is perhaps Stendhal’s most autobiographical......
Luck of Ginger Coffey, The
The Luck of Ginger Coffey, novel by Brian Moore, published in 1960. The story concerns an Irish-born Canadian immigrant......
Luck of Roaring Camp, The
The Luck of Roaring Camp, short story by Bret Harte, published in 1868 in the Overland Monthly, which Harte edited.......
Lucky Jim
Lucky Jim, best-selling novel by Kingsley Amis, published in 1954. The novel features the antihero Jim Dixon, a......
Lupin, Arsène
Arsène Lupin, fictional character in stories and novels by Maurice Leblanc. The debonair Lupin is a reformed thief,......
Lyre of Orpheus, The
The Lyre of Orpheus, novel by Robertson Davies, published in 1988. The book is the third in the so-called Cornish......
Lélia
Lélia, novel by George Sand, published in 1833. It shocked contemporary readers with a heroine who, like Sand herself,......
Mac Flecknoe
Mac Flecknoe, an extended verse satire by John Dryden, written in the mid-1670s and published anonymously and apparently......
Mad
Mad, American satirical magazine that started as a four-colour comic book in 1952 and transitioned into a black-and-white......
Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary, novel by Gustave Flaubert, serialized in the Revue de Paris in 1856 and then published in two volumes......
Magic Barrel, The
The Magic Barrel, collection of 13 short stories by Bernard Malamud, published in 1958. Malamud’s first published......
Magic Mountain, The
The Magic Mountain, novel of ideas by Thomas Mann, originally published in German as Der Zauberberg in 1924. It......
magic realism
magic realism, chiefly Latin-American narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion......
Magician of Lublin, The
The Magician of Lublin, novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer, published serially as Der Kuntsnmakher fun Lublin in the......
Magnificent Ambersons, The
The Magnificent Ambersons, novel by Booth Tarkington, published in 1918. The book, about life in a Midwestern American......
Maigret, Jules
Jules Maigret, fictional character, an unassuming, compassionate, and streetwise Parisian police commissioner who......
Main Street
Main Street, novel by Sinclair Lewis, published in 1920. The story of Main Street is filtered through the eyes......
Major Barbara
Major Barbara, social satire in three acts by George Bernard Shaw, performed in 1905 and published in 1907, in......
Making of Americans, The
The Making of Americans, novel by Gertrude Stein, completed in 1911 and considered to be one of Stein’s major works.......
Makioka Sisters, The
The Makioka Sisters, novel by Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, originally published as Sasameyuki (“A Light Snowfall”). The......
Malone Dies
Malone Dies, novel by the Irish author Samuel Beckett, originally written in French as Malone meurt (1951) and......
Maltese Falcon, The
The Maltese Falcon, mystery novel by Dashiell Hammett, generally considered his finest work. It originally appeared......
Man and Superman
Man and Superman, play in four acts by George Bernard Shaw, published in 1903 and performed (without scene 2 of......
Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, The
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg , short story by Mark Twain satirizing the vanity of the virtuous. It was first......
Man Who Loved Children, The
The Man Who Loved Children, novel by Australian writer Christina Stead, published in 1940 and revised in 1965.......
Man Who Was Thursday, The
The Man Who Was Thursday, allegorical novel by G.K. Chesterton, published in 1908. It relates the experiences of......
Man Who Would Be King, The
The Man Who Would Be King, short story by Rudyard Kipling, first published in The Phantom Rickshaw, and Other Tales......
Man with the Golden Arm, The
The Man with the Golden Arm, novel by Nelson Algren, published in 1949. It won a National Book Award in 1950. Set......
Man Without Qualities, The
The Man Without Qualities, unfinished novel by Austrian writer Robert Musil, published as Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften......
Manchild in the Promised Land
Manchild in the Promised Land, autobiographical novel by Claude Brown, published in 1965. The work was noted for......
Mandarins, The
The Mandarins, novel by Simone de Beauvoir, published in French as Les Mandarins in 1954; it won the Prix Goncourt......
Manon Lescaut
Manon Lescaut, sentimental novel by Antoine-François, Abbé Prévost d’Exiles, published in 1731 as the last installment......
Mansfield Park
Mansfield Park, novel by Jane Austen, published in three volumes in 1814. In its tone and discussion of religion......
Mansion, The
The Mansion, novel by William Faulkner, first published in 1959 as the third volume of his Snopes trilogy. The......
Man’yō-shū
Man’yō-shū, (Japanese: “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves”), oldest (c. 759) and greatest of the imperial anthologies......
Marble Faun, The
The Marble Faun, novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1860. It is one of the works Hawthorne called romances—“unrealistic”......
Mardi
Mardi, third novel by Herman Melville, originally published in two volumes as Mardi: And a Voyage Thither in 1849.......
Marjorie Morningstar
Marjorie Morningstar, novel by Herman Wouk, published in 1955, about a woman who rebels against the confining middle-class......
Marlowe, Philip
Philip Marlowe, fictional character, the protagonist of seven novels by Raymond Chandler. Marlowe is a hard-boiled......
Marquise of O, The
The Marquise of O, novella by German writer Heinrich von Kleist, published in 1808 in the literary journal Phöbus......
Martin Chuzzlewit
Martin Chuzzlewit, novel by Charles Dickens, published serially under the pseudonym “Boz” from 1843 to 1844 and......
Martin Eden
Martin Eden, semiautobiographical novel by Jack London, published in 1909. The title character becomes a writer,......
Mary Barton
Mary Barton, first novel by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, published in 1848. It is the story of a working-class family......
Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins, the first novel in a series of children’s books written by P.L. Travers, published in 1934. The titular......
Mason, Perry
Perry Mason, fictional American trial lawyer and detective, the protagonist of more than 80 mystery novels (beginning......
Masque of the Red Death, The
The Masque of the Red Death, allegorical short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in Graham’s Magazine in......
Master and Margarita, The
The Master and Margarita, novel by Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, written in 1928–40 and published in a censored......
Master of Ballantrae, The
The Master of Ballantrae, novel by Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, first serialized in Scribner’s Magazine......
Mastro-don Gesualdo
Mastro-don Gesualdo, realistic novel of Sicilian life by Giovanni Verga, published in Italian in 1889. Mastro-don......
Maurice
Maurice, novel by E.M. Forster, published posthumously in 1971. Because of the work’s homosexual theme, the novel......
Mayor of Casterbridge, The
The Mayor of Casterbridge, novel by Thomas Hardy, published in 1886, first serially (in the periodical The Graphic)......
McGee, Travis
Travis McGee, fictional character, private investigator in a series of 24 crime novels by John D. MacDonald. McGee,......
McTeague
McTeague, novel by Frank Norris, published in 1899. The work was considered to be the first great portrait in American......
Melmoth the Wanderer
Melmoth the Wanderer, novel by Charles Robert Maturin, published in 1820 and considered the last of the classic......
Member of the Wedding, The
The Member of the Wedding, novel by Carson McCullers, published in 1946. It depicts the inner life of a lonely......
Memento Mori
Memento Mori, comic and macabre novel by Muriel Spark, published in 1959. This psychological fantasy was Spark’s......
Memoirs of Hadrian
Memoirs of Hadrian, historical novel by Marguerite Yourcenar, published in 1951 as Mémoires d’Hadrien. In the book,......
Memoirs of Hecate County
Memoirs of Hecate County, collection of six loosely connected short stories by Edmund Wilson, first published in......
Men of Good Will
Men of Good Will, epic novel cycle by Jules Romains, published in French in 27 volumes as Les Hommes de bonne volonté......
Menippean satire
Menippean satire, seriocomic genre, chiefly in ancient Greek literature and Latin literature, in which contemporary......
Metamorphosis, The
As Franz Kafka lay troubled and restless one night, he found himself in his bed struck by an idea for a disturbing......
Metaphysical poet
Metaphysical poet, any of the poets in 17th-century England who inclined to the personal and intellectual complexity......
Middlemarch
Middlemarch, novel by George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans), published in eight parts in 1871–72 and also......
Midnight’s Children
Midnight’s Children, allegorical novel by Salman Rushdie, published in 1981. It is a historical chronicle of modern......
Midwestern Regionalism
Midwestern Regionalism, American literary movement of the late 19th century that centred on the realistic depiction......
Mill on the Floss, The
The Mill on the Floss, novel by George Eliot, published in three volumes in 1860. It sympathetically portrays the......
Mill on the Po, The
The Mill on the Po, trilogy of novels by Riccardo Bacchelli, first published in Italian as Il mulino del Po in......
Misanthrope, Le
Le Misanthrope, satiric comedy in five acts by Molière, performed in 1666 and published the following year. The......
Miss Lonelyhearts
Miss Lonelyhearts, novel by Nathanael West, published in 1933. It concerns a male newspaper columnist whose attempts......

Novels & Short Stories Encyclopedia Articles By Title