When the New York Times reported that Garth Risk Hallberg had sold his 900-page debut novel, “City on Fire,” for an advance reportedly just shy of $2 million, and noted that the deal offers “more evidence that the long novel is experiencing a resurgence,” I had to shrug. We’re talking about the same paper that, with no real evidence, announced that short story collections are also “experiencing a resurgence” just nine months ago. The fact is: Long novels have never, ever been out of favor with readers. You can’t make a comeback if you don’t go away.
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