Collage novel: History and Key Facts

Collage novel is used by different writers and readers to describe three different kinds of novel: 1) a form of artist's book approaching closely (but preceding) the graphic novel; 2) a literary novel that approaches "collage" metaphorically, juxtaposing different modes of original writing; and 3) a novel that approaches collage literally, incorporating found language and possibly combining other modes of original writing.

In the first category, images are selected from other publications and collaged together following a theme or narrative (not necessarily linear). In the second, different modes of writing written by a single author are blended together into a highly fragmentary narrative; no found language is used. In the third, language is often selected from multiple sources; the text might be composed entirely of found language, with no words of the author's own.

Source and attribution

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