So for this essay, I’ll recommend two mosaic novels, a balanced reconciliation between the two forms. (This space is also relative and dependent on the translation–Chinese and Japanese novels tend to be relatively “short” in the original because of the language itself.) Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude is effective because it cannot be compressed and requires that space. Yet the appeal of the novel format cannot be denied. (It is also worth mentioning that the effectiveness of these stories depends on the translation.) “The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges remains memorable and influential on my writing, while “On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning” is arguably Haruki Murakami’s most popular–or at least Googled–short story. I state this because in some developing countries (at the very least, in the Philippines), the expectations of the two do not necessarily intersect: some readers want thick, lengthy novels while the output of many writers leans toward the short form (or if we do write novels, they tend to be slim as opposed to the epic fantasies which pose binding problems for the publisher).īut if we look at fiction from around the world, some of the best ones come in the form of the short story. I’m not just a reader, I’m also a writer. He is often seen at SFSignal and the World SF Blog. Charles Tan is an author, critic, and editor.
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