A Dozen Favorite Fragmentary or Cloudburst Novels
(“Fragmentary” seems to be the settled nomenclature for such books, but I also think of them as cloudburst novels, discharged so forcefully into being that they have left behind a scattered corona of facts, images, observations, and narrative gestures. Here are my dozen favorites, listed alphabetically by author.)
Speedboat by Renata Adler
Moods by Yoel Hoffmann
Jesus Christs by A. J. Langguth
Empty Words by Mario Levrero
The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
Loop by Brenda Lozano
Wittgenstein’s Mistress by David Markson
Here by Richard McGuire
A Million Windows by Gerald Murnane
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
Fireflies by Luis Sagasti
Picnic Grounds: A Novel in Fragments by Oz Shelach
— November 13, 2020