# books in which a chapter could be a complete short story **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 29, 2020, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694 "2020-02-29T05:52:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/21 "2020-02-29T21:38:16Z")
Let’s go older–_The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night_. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/22 "2020-02-29T21:40:29Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Ukulele Ike, you’re thinking of “The Whole Town’s Sleeping”: > > [Title: The Whole Town's Sleeping](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?64922) Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/23 "2020-02-29T23:07:09Z")
W. Somerset Maugham’s novel _Ashenden: The British Agent_ effectively consists of short stories that stand alone from one another. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/24 "2020-02-29T23:54:42Z")
The Grand Inquisitor is often published and read on its own outside the Brothers Karamazov. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/25 "2020-03-01T00:45:42Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > Barth? Yeah, Barth. My fingers have a mind of their own these days. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/26 "2020-03-01T19:40:22Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Heinlein’s Time Enough For Love. The Tale of the Adopted Daughter is certainly a stand alone story, with a little bit of Lazarus Long. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/27 "2020-03-02T22:59:52Z")
My first thought was Arthur C. Clarke’s “[Tales From The White Hart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_White_Hart).” However, I see that most of the chapters had actually been previously published as stand-alone short stories, then collected into this book with a framing device. So this may not be the kind of thing the OP is looking for. It’s a fun book nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/28 "2020-03-03T14:25:12Z")
There are plenty of novels that are “built up” of short stories (especially in science fiction, for some reason). Very early in his career, Alfred E. van Vogt called this process a “fix up”. the _Encyclopedia of Science Fiction_ adopted this as standard terminology - there are lots of “fix ups” out there. Many of the ones listed above are “fix ups”, with very little attempt to smooth over the connections (_The Illustrated Ma, Tales from the White Hart_). Raymond F. Jones’ novel _This Island Earth_, which was later pretty badly adapted into the movie of the same name) was a fix-up, the first portion of which, _The Alien Machine_, appeared as a standalone short story in 1949. (It’s one of the few bits that was translated almost properly to the film. But they still managed to screw it up – the Metalunans didn’t provide a schematiic for the Interociter. the whole point of the test was Meacham’s ability to dope it all out from clues given in the catalog. Otherwise it’s not much of an aptitude test.) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/29 "2020-03-04T02:12:13Z")
[Code of the Lifemaker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_the_Lifemaker). The prologue chapter is the story of a damaged replicating probe that landed on Titan in pre-history and eventually through a series of events evolved into an entire mechanical ecosystem. It can and has been published as a stand-alone story. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/30 "2020-03-04T03:29:32Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > _The Illustrated Ma_ I know that is a typo, but I would read that. “Ma, why’ve you got so many tattoos? Billy’s Ma ain’t got tattoos. Tommy’s Ma ain’t got tattoos. It’s embarrassing.” ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/31 "2020-03-04T04:13:57Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > [Code of the Lifemaker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_the_Lifemaker). The prologue chapter is the story of a damaged replicating probe that landed on Titan in pre-history and eventually through a series of events evolved into an entire mechanical ecosystem. It can and has been published as a stand-alone story. It’s the best part of the novel (there’s a bit of good stuff in the later part, but the opening is terrific). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/32 "2020-03-04T13:13:04Z")
Niven and Pournelle cut the first chapter of _The Mote In God’s Eye_ for length and later published it as a short story. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/33 "2020-03-04T13:54:11Z")
Probably every chapter of every James Herriot book could stand alone. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/34 "2020-03-04T15:25:57Z")
Two that I thought of right out of the box: 1. The chapter “Death, New York Style” from Tom Wolfe’s _Bonfire of the Vanities_. 2. The ending to Stephen King’s _Under the Dome_, which is so out of place with the rest of the book it read like King, realizing he was 400+ pages in and nowhere near closing the book, decided to just blow it all up. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/35 "2020-03-04T15:48:39Z")
There are a bunch of stand-alone chapters in Dickens’ _The Pickwick Papers_. They are stories told by characters in the novel, but maybe that counts, because the plot of _The Pickwick Papers_ is episodic. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/36 "2020-03-08T17:44:01Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > The OP mentioned John Irving. It’s been years since I read “The World According To Garp” but I seem to recall a couple of chapters that were supposed to be short stories written by Garp. You’re speaking of The Pension Grillparzer and if it was one chapter it would win the thread. It was included in the book to show Garp’s progression as an author. In the novel, he sent it in to a publisher who rejected it quite harshly. Irving actually submitted the story for publication while writing Garp and he included the actual rejection letter he received IRL when he submitted it. As I recall the publisher stated it was “mildly interesting”. IRL the story was great though and won that years Pushcart prize for short fiction and it has since been published including on audible. It really was a great novella and amusing to think in this case art imitated life for a change. It also pointed out what authors deal with when they submit their works to publishers who don’t get the art they’re evaluating. Not groundbreaking stuff but perfect in a book about a novelist. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/37 "2020-03-08T17:56:33Z")
The chapter “Christmas” from _To Kill a Mockingbird_ works well as a stand-alone short story. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/38 "2020-03-08T20:46:11Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > _Dandelion Wine,_ also. > > I’ve seen the brilliant final chapter of Evelyn Waugh’s _A Handful of Dust_ printed, with minor tweaks, as “The Man Who Loved Dickens.” In horror fiction anthologies. Just the story I was thinking of - brilliant is almost an understatement. ---
**Author:** ![Stowed\_Bob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stowed_bob/32/3312_2.png) [@Stowed\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stowed_Bob)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/39 "2020-03-10T02:20:35Z")
Any of the historical recollections scattered throughout The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, but especially the incident set in Mongolia. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694/40 "2020-03-10T11:23:55Z")
I just read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer again. Several of the chapters are a short stories. For example, the chapter about painting the fence. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-a-chapter-could-be-a-complete-short-story/848694.md?page=3)