antinovel
Deliberately unconventional fiction
An antinovel is a work of fiction that deliberately rejects conventional narrative elements—plot, character development, chronology, or coherent storytelling.
The form emerged in mid-twentieth-century French literature and challenges readers' expectations of what a novel should do: Robbe-Grillet's antinovels frustrate anyone looking for a traditional story.
Literature aware of itself
- stream-of-consciousnessNarrative of unfiltered thought
- fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
- nonlinearNot in sequence
- defamiliarizationMaking common things seem strange
digression · intertextuality · pastiche · collage · montage · bricolage · cut-up · aleatory
Believer in cosmic meaninglessness
- surrealistCreator of dreamlike art
- postmodernistSkeptic of universal truths
- avant-gardeInnovative cultural pioneers
- minimalistOne favoring bare essentials
maximalist · experimental · formless · fragmentary · plotless · deconstructive · chaotic · ambiguous
Seeking to undermine authority
- iconoclasticAttacking cherished beliefs
- transgressiveViolating accepted boundaries
- rebelliousResisting authority or control
- provocativeMeant to provoke response
radical · nonconformist · irreverent · contrarian · dissenting · counter-narrative · genre-defying
Morally ambiguous main character
metafiction
Literature aware of itself
- stream-of-consciousnessNarrative of unfiltered thought
- fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
- nonlinearNot in sequence
defamiliarization · digression · intertextuality · pastiche · collage · montage · bricolage · cut-up · aleatory · parataxis
absurdist
Believer in cosmic meaninglessness
- surrealistCreator of dreamlike art
- postmodernistSkeptic of universal truths
- avant-gardeInnovative cultural pioneers
minimalist · maximalist · experimental · formless · fragmentary · plotless · deconstructive · chaotic · ambiguous · elliptical
Beckett
subversive
Seeking to undermine authority
- iconoclasticAttacking cherished beliefs
- transgressiveViolating accepted boundaries
- rebelliousResisting authority or control
provocative · radical · nonconformist · irreverent · contrarian · dissenting · counter-narrative · genre-defying
postmodernism
Skepticism toward universal truths
antihero
Morally ambiguous main character
Molloy
antinovelrealist novel
Literature depicting plausible life
classic novel · Victorian novel · genre fiction · popular fiction · potboiler