Draft:20 longest novels ever written
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List of longest novels ever written (by character count, including spaces)
[edit]This list includes the longest literary works ever published as physical books (bound paper editions), ranked by total character count **including spaces**. Page counts and formatting vary, so character count is used for consistency.
| Rank | Title | Author(s) | Character count (with spaces) |
Word count estimate | Year(s) | Notes | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nevaeh Saga | Marcel Ray Duriez | 62,000,000 | 10,000,000 | 2012–2025 | Self-published series spanning 90+ volumes. | |
| 2 | À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time) |
Marcel Proust | 9,609,000 | 1,267,069 | 1913–1927 | 7 volumes. | [1] |
| 3 | Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus | Madeleine de Scudéry | 7,500,000 | 2,100,000 | 1649–1653 | 10 volumes. | [2] |
| 4 | Henry Darger’s Realms of the Unreal | Henry Darger | ~7,300,000 | — | 1910s–1970s | Posthumous manuscript. | [3] |
| 5 | Mission Earth | L. Ron Hubbard | ~5,000,000 | 1,200,000 | 1985–1987 | 10 volumes. | [4] |
| 6 | A Dance to the Music of Time | Anthony Powell | ~4,400,000 | ~1,000,000 | 1951–1975 | 12 volumes. | [5] |
| 7 | Zettels Traum (Bottom’s Dream) | Arno Schmidt | 4,000,000 | ~1,100,000 | 1970 | Experimental layout. | [6] |
| 8 | Sironia, Texas | Madison Cooper | ~3,900,000 | ~1,100,000 | 1952 | Two‑volume novel. | [7] |
| 9 | Poor Fellow My Country | Xavier Herbert | ~3,300,000 | ~850,000 | 1975 | Australia’s longest novel. | [8] |
| 10 | Clarissa | Samuel Richardson | ~3,200,000 | ~970,000 | 1748 | Epistolary novel. | [9] |
| 11 | Women and Men | Joseph McElroy | ~3,000,000 | ~850,000 | 1987 | Postmodern novel. | [10] |
| 12 | Marienbad My Love | Mark Leach | ~2,900,000 | ~700,000 | 2013 | Experimental. | [11] |
| 13 | A Suitable Boy | Vikram Seth | ~2,700,000 | 591,552 | 1993 | Single‑volume novel. | [12] |
| 14 | War and Peace | Leo Tolstoy | ~2,500,000 | 587,287 | 1869 | Russian epic. | [13] |
| 15 | Atlas Shrugged | Ayn Rand | ~2,200,000 | 645,000 | 1957 | Philosophical novel. | [14] |
| 16 | Infinite Jest | David Foster Wallace | ~2,100,000 | 577,608 | 1996 | Known for dense footnotes. | [15] |
| 17 | Les Misérables | Victor Hugo | ~2,050,000 | 655,478 | 1862 | French classic. | [16] |
| 18 | Gordana | Marija Jurić Zagorka | ~2,000,000 | ~800,000 | 1942 | Croatian series. | [17] |
| 19 | Jerusalem | Alan Moore | ~1,950,000 | ~600,000 | 2016 | Experimental epic. | [18] |
| 20 | The Man Without Qualities | Robert Musil | ~1,800,000 | ~700,000 | 1930–1943 | Unfinished. | [19] |
References
[edit]- ^ "À la recherche du temps perdu". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Realms of the Unreal". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Mission Earth". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "A Dance to the Music of Time". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Zettels Traum". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Sironia, Texas". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Poor Fellow My Country". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Clarissa". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Women and Men". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Marienbad My Love". Literary Hub.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "A Suitable Boy". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "War and Peace". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Atlas Shrugged". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Infinite Jest". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Les Misérables". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Marija Jurić Zagorka (1942). Gordana.
- ^ "Jerusalem (Moore novel)". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "The Man Without Qualities". Wikipedia.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help)
References
[edit]<references> [1][circular reference]
<ref name="wikipedia-seth">{{cite web |title=A Suitable Boy |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Suitable_Boy |website=Wikipedia |access-date=18 July 2025 |la
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "À la recherche du temps perdu". Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
- ^ "Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus". Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
- ^ "Henry Darger". Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
- ^ "Mission Earth". Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
- ^ "A Dance to the Music of Time". Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
- ^ "Zettels Traum". Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
- ^ "Sironia, Texas". Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
- ^ "Poor Fellow My Country". Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
- ^ "Clarissa (novel)". Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
- ^ "Women and Men". Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
- ^ "Marienbad My Love: Possibly the World's Longest Novel". Literary Hub. 20 April 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
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