What is the longest novel in the English language?

Answer 1

You did specify, "in the English language." YOu might have clarified whether you meant if written originally in English, or in translation. A la recherche des temps perdu, by Proust, was written in French. While it has been translated into English, it is NOT the longest novel in the world or in the history of literature.

While War and Peace, which has some 460,000 Russian and French words, has in the English translation over 560,000 words, and over 3.1 million characters; typically it is over 1400 pages as a paperback, it seems rather to be Henry Darger's novel, The Story of the Vivian Girls, which takes the cake for being the longest novel in the English language.

The Bible is not a novel, but rather a series of books explaining our origins in religious and historical narrative.

According to Wikipedia, the longerst novel is by Henry Darger, The Story of the Vivian Girls.
This is an "illustrated fantasy novel manuscript, typed single-spaced with 15,145 pages in 10 volumes. Discovered after Darger's death, the manuscript has never been published. The total number of words has been estimated; some believe this might be the longest novel ever written. [1] The most conservative guess will put this in the million-word realm, possibly into tens of millions."

Other lenghty novels --in English-- on record include L.Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth, with 1.2 million words; Samuel Richardson's Clarissa about 969,000 words; Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy 591,552 words. Seth's Suitable Boy is the longest conventional novel in English since Clarissa, and allegedly, according to a Wikipedia participant, though source is not properly cited, the longest novel in the English language published in a single volume.

Answer 2

Longest Novel

Answer 3

One Site notes the unpublished work

Henry Darger, The Story of the Vivian Girls
Illustrated fantasy novel manuscript typed single-spaced with 15,145 pages in 10 volumes. Discovered after Darger's death, the manuscript has never been published. The total number of words has been estimated; some believe this might be the longest novel ever written. The most conservative guess will put this in the million-word realm, possibly into tens of millions.

While Guiness Book of Records lists the published work of Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time"

But Proust is originally french, so you have to go to #2 on the list and say "Clarissa" by Samuel Richardson

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What is the longest novel in the English language?

Answer 5

Marcel Proust's "A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu" (translated as Remembrance of Things Past) is the world's longest novel, according to Guinness World Records. The profoundly influential 13-volume work contains 9,609,000 characters, with each letter and space counting as one character.

Answer 6

Ditto on the Bible being orignally a foreign language - Hebrew. Even in English it's not the longest book ever written in the English language. Idiots.

After researching this online, the lady up above with the link to wikipedia has the most correct answer to your question. Follow her link for more info, and hopefully you'll award her best answer too.

Answer 7

Longest conventionally-read novel. 9,609,000 characters [2], nearly 1.5 million words. Holds the Guinness Book of Records title as Longest Novel. Published in 13 volumes from 1913 to 1927. English translation is titled Remembrance of Things Past or In Search of Lost Time.

Answer 8

What about Richard Scarry's Longest Book?

Answer 9

Henry Darger, The Story of the Vivian Girls, Illustrated fantasy novel manuscript typed single-spaced with 15,145 pages in Latin, 10 volumes but never published.
Remembrance of Things Past or In Search of Lost Time. 9,609,000 characters and nearly 1.5 million words. It hold the record in Guinness Book of world Records. I don't think I could sit and read that one!

Answer 10

James Joyce's "Ulysses"? I believe you wanted novels originally written in English. War and Peace (Russian) and Remembrance of Things Past (French) do not qualify, then.