One of my favorite literary quotations is from the French poet Paul Valéry: "A poem is never finished, only abandoned." And I agree wholeheartedly, though there may be a vast difference between abandoning a poem as an infant and abandoning it as a young adult. (But that's a topic for a future blog post.)
Anyway, the quotation came to mind today after I read Matthew Redmond's new LitHub essay Why Should We Read Unfinished Novels?.
The only unfinished novel I remember reading is The Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway, which was actually the first Hemingway book I ever read. I was 19 or 20 at the time and had just finished a marathon of reading nothing but John Steinbeck books. Somehow I'd gotten into my head the notion that Hemingway was the next great American novelist I should binge read. So I went to Bookseller in Elyria, Ohio, and bought The Garden of Eden (which I had no idea was unfinished, though I guess I should have because I knew it was posthumously published) because it was his newest release (this was probably 1986) and because the title made me think it might be a little more fun than, say, For Whom the Bell Tolls. Though I loved a lot of the writing, in the end I found the novel rather unsatisfying (I wonder if I would feel the same today) and, coincidentally, unfinished. Then I kicked myself for picking that one to read first.
Anyway, I don't believe I've read any other "unfinished" novel. But now I'm thinking it's strange that I can easily consider every poem to some degree "unfinished" but not most novels. Why is that? (Saving this to the future blog post file too).
Also, it's interesting that Matthew Redmond's article focuses predominantly on the 19th Century and does not mention The Garden of Eden or Hemingway's other posthumously published unfinished novels (Islands in the Stream, True at First Light) - or, for that matter, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon (one of two Fitzgerald novels I've not yet read).
After my Garden experience, I've spent decades avoiding reading unfinished novels. But now I'm thinking maybe I should reconsider.
Which unfinished novels have you read? Are they any you'd recommend?
Anyway, the quotation came to mind today after I read Matthew Redmond's new LitHub essay Why Should We Read Unfinished Novels?.
The only unfinished novel I remember reading is The Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway, which was actually the first Hemingway book I ever read. I was 19 or 20 at the time and had just finished a marathon of reading nothing but John Steinbeck books. Somehow I'd gotten into my head the notion that Hemingway was the next great American novelist I should binge read. So I went to Bookseller in Elyria, Ohio, and bought The Garden of Eden (which I had no idea was unfinished, though I guess I should have because I knew it was posthumously published) because it was his newest release (this was probably 1986) and because the title made me think it might be a little more fun than, say, For Whom the Bell Tolls. Though I loved a lot of the writing, in the end I found the novel rather unsatisfying (I wonder if I would feel the same today) and, coincidentally, unfinished. Then I kicked myself for picking that one to read first.
Anyway, I don't believe I've read any other "unfinished" novel. But now I'm thinking it's strange that I can easily consider every poem to some degree "unfinished" but not most novels. Why is that? (Saving this to the future blog post file too).
Also, it's interesting that Matthew Redmond's article focuses predominantly on the 19th Century and does not mention The Garden of Eden or Hemingway's other posthumously published unfinished novels (Islands in the Stream, True at First Light) - or, for that matter, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon (one of two Fitzgerald novels I've not yet read).
After my Garden experience, I've spent decades avoiding reading unfinished novels. But now I'm thinking maybe I should reconsider.
Which unfinished novels have you read? Are they any you'd recommend?
Hemingway is one of my favorite writers, so I would recommend my personal favorite, A Moveable Feast, which is not so much a novel as a collection of anecdotal stories of him living poor in Paris with his wife and young son.
ReplyDeleteAs far as unfinished, no, I will never intentionally read one bc there is a difference between choosing to leave off forever editing a poem and having something published posthumously that you were working on but did not get a chance to finish. One is the author's choice, the other isn't. Plus, imo a story needs to give the reader some sort of closure-- even open ended ones. If it's a series, then there's resolution of the book plot while leaving open whatever overarching connection there is with the rest of the series.
Incidentally, it's also why i almost never read series that are not already complete. I don't want to be left in the lurch like fans of GOT. 🙂
Thank you for responding, Cat! I've read a lot of Hemingway, mostly his novels, but have never read A Moveable Feast. Adding it to my list!
DeleteI haven't read any unfinished novels except my own in progress. :-)
ReplyDeleteI really like to read breakout novels, Like To Kill a Mockingbird. Kingsolver, The Bean Trees. Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club. I feel first novels have a soulful energy that can't always be recaptured.
Thank you for stopping by, Barbara! To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite novels. Have you read Ms. Lee's Go Set a Watchman yet? I have mixed feelings about it due to the controversies and have so far resisted reading it. I half consider that an unfinished novel, based on what I've read about it, though perhaps the author would not have agreed.
DeleteIf you love To Kill A Mockingbird, you might also enjoy Old School by Tobias Wolff; it has the same sort of flavor imo. Read it years ago as a Big Read selection for Massillon library and museum.
DeleteAh! I'm not familiar with Tobias Wolff. Thanks for the recommendation!
DeleteTobias Wolff is amazing—he’s written famous memoirs as well as fiction. You might like In Pharaoh’s Army, which is about his time in Vietnam
Delete❤️
Ah! Good to know. Thank you! My to-read list keeps getting longer.
DeleteRalph Ellison might be one worth looking at, either in the long and rambling draft version of the fragments of his second novel, published as Three Days Before the Shooting, or in the shorter version edited by John F. Callahan, published as Juneteenth.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Geoff! I will check that out. Sadly, I have not yet read any Ellison, though I've been wanting to. His Invisible Man is currently in my to-read pile. I was unaware of this second novel.
DeleteMy favorite unfinished novel is Dickens’s The Mystery of Edwin Drood. And then of course there’s Austen’s Sanditon. 🥰
ReplyDeleteI love Dickens - all six of the novels of his I've read were excellent, my favorite being Bleak House. I haven't read Edwin Drood, didn't even know it was unfinished; but it's been on my to read list.
DeleteI've only read two Austen books, and Northanger Abbey, but have never even heard of Sanditon. I guess I'll add that to my list too!
I’ll let you borrow my copies ❤️
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed, The First Man. The children of Camus insisted it ne published, against his widow's wishes. Good notes in the edition I picked up, giving its context. Terrific sense of time and place, and the ethical questions raised in the Algerian war.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Elizabeth. I need to read that!
DeleteMoveable Feast can be a great lite summer book read. The histories of The Watchman and the second Ellison novel would make a study in itself of social change and what this material reveals about the circumstances of publicatiin.
ReplyDeleteI just realized there is one other "unfinished" novel that I've read - I just don't think I ever knew that it had been left unfinished when the author died: Billy Budd by Herman Melville. And I loved it!
ReplyDelete