Some of the Most Popular Books That Don’t Exist

The publication The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern doesn’t exist.

Sure, you whitethorn person work the publication The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, (The “Good Parts” Version) by William Goldman, oregon watched the movie adaptation. Each mentation uses a framework communicative with the narrator skipping to “the bully parts.” Still, immoderate readers hunt for The Unabridged Princess Bride successful idiosyncratic and online. Ironically, an abridged audiobook exists, furthering the story that Goldman’s afloat caller is the “abridged” version.

The Princess Bride is a hilarious illustration of metafiction: fabrication astir penning fabrication oregon satirizing its conventions. I’m gladsome nary “unabridged” mentation exists. The publication narrator omits tedious scenes, similar Buttercup packing a suitcase. He besides offers asides to readers astir the cultures of the fictitious countries Florin and Guilder. In a fairy communicative similar this one, hints supply worldbuilding without overwhelming the story.

In Octavia E. Butler’s dystopian subject fabrication and phantasy novels Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, Lauren Olamina founds a caller religion called Earthseed. Its spiritual text, quoted passim some novels, is besides titled Earthseed. The fictional religion says humans volition outgrow Earth and populate different planets. Earthseed draws connected fears of clime alteration and societal collapse. No wonderment immoderate readers presume the Earthseed publication is real.

Sometimes, nonexistent books go truthful popular, authors effort to acceptable the grounds straight. In Rosemary’s Baby, the 1967 fearfulness caller by Ira Levin, All of Them Witches by J. R. Hanslet is simply a nonfiction publication with profiles of infamous witches. It’s an important crippled instrumentality that doesn’t beryllium extracurricular of Levin’s novel. Many fans wrote to Levin for assistance finding copies of this nonexistent book. As Levin wrote backmost apologetically to 1 fan: “you are 1 of a fig of radical whom I person unwittingly sent connected a chaotic goose chase.” The stone set All Them Witches is named aft the fake book.

John Green created an full FAQ page connected his website for An Imperial Affliction by Peter Van Houten. In Green’s YA caller The Fault successful Our Stars, Hazel Grace’s favourite publication is An Imperial Affliction, which inspires her to sojourn the Netherlands and conscionable Van Houten. Green said astatine slightest 1 interviewer assumed Van Houten was real. Green made up some Van Houten and An Imperial Affliction, which helium has nary plans to constitute himself. It’s not his style. He imagined it arsenic a mash-up of Infinite Jest and The Blood of the Lamb.

I effort not to conjecture authors’ intentions. Still, I deliberation the rubric An Imperial Affliction may besides beryllium a play connected The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee, a Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction publication astir cancer.

The rubric of Louise Erdrich’s 2021 caller The Sentence works connected aggregate levels. Tookie, the protagonist, is an Indigenous pistillate who gets a occupation successful a bookstore aft getting retired of prison. Within the book, The Sentence is besides the rubric of a nonfiction publication that’s important to a customer, Flora. This is different fantabulous illustration of metafiction. Tookie besides provides tons of lists recommending existent books, including Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto. So, I recognize if you initially presume the nonfiction publication The Sentence is real, too. By the extremity of Erdrich’s novel, it’s wide that it’s not and why.

There are respective books wrong books that I privation were real. One illustration is Jacob Wrestling from I Capture the Castle. In Dodie Smith’s coming-of-age novel, Cassandra Mortmain lives successful a run-down castle with her household successful 1930s England. Her father, James, hasn’t written thing since his Modernist book Jacob Wrestling, an ambitious prose and poesy hybrid. The rubric — a notation to Jacob wrestling with an angel successful the Bible — has galore imaginable symbolic meanings, from religion to sexuality. The existent Modernist poets utilized Biblical images successful innovative ways, truthful the possibilities implied present are intriguing.

I besides privation Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel LaMotte, the fictional Victorian poets successful Possession by A. S. Byatt, were real. Ash whitethorn beryllium based connected Alfred, Lord Tennyson, oregon connected Robert Browning. LaMotte whitethorn beryllium inspired by pre-Raphaelite writer Christina Rossetti oregon by Browning’s wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I was fascinated by the romance betwixt these fictional poets and wished I could work much of their poesy and letters.

Even erstwhile I privation I could work these books successful full, I recognize wherefore they don’t exist. The existent authors whitethorn not privation to constitute their entire, hypothetical books. Books wrong books are often thumbnail sketches for settings oregon characters erstwhile the afloat substance would beryllium excessively repetitive oregon ambitious to write. They service important purposes successful the main narratives and let authors to experimentation extracurricular their accustomed genres. Like galore different aspects of fiction, readers ideate them alongside writers. What’s omitted is conscionable arsenic important arsenic what’s included.

Do you besides person favourite fake books? Take immoderate clip to dive into our lists of novels, nonfiction books, and whole categories that don’t beryllium but should.