Two Paths for the Novel (from NY Review)

Netherland

by Joseph O’Neill

Pantheon, 256 pp., $23.95

Remainder

by Tom McCarthy

Vintage, 308 pp., $13.95 (paper)

1.

From two recent novels, a story emerges about the future for the Anglophone novel. Both are the result of long journeys. Netherland, by Joseph O’Neill, took seven years to write;Remainder, by Tom McCarthy, took seven years to find a mainstream publisher.