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THE TARTAR STEPPE

Dino Buzzati

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Fisherman

    John Langan2016

    Two widowers go fishing at a mysterious creek and discover a local legend involving a dark pact and a gateway to another world.

    Same elegiac register

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Ambergris

    Jeff VanderMeer2020

    This collection follows the history of a city built atop a subterranean race. It uses fake histories, journals, and detective noir.

    elegiac → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • The Golden

    Lucius Shepard1993

    A vampire detective investigates the murder of a woman bred for her blood. The story takes place within a sprawling castle during a summit.

    elegiac → decadent

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • The Fall of the House of Usher

    Edgar Allan Poe

    A narrator visits a childhood friend in a decaying mansion. The house and the family's health decline simultaneously toward a collapse.

    elegiac → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    elegiac → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • On a Pale Horse

    Piers Anthony1983

    After accidentally killing the personification of Death, a man must take over the office. He navigates the bureaucracy of the afterlife.

    elegiac → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Redshirts

    John Scalzi2012

    Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

    elegiac → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

    A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

    elegiac → bleak

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak+1

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

    A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.

    elegiac → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Executioner

    Chris Carter2010

    A Los Angeles detective hunts a serial killer who murders victims using their specific phobias. Each crime scene features a blood-scrawled number.

    elegiac → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

elegiac → meditative, still philosophical fiction

3 more ↓

  • Nausea

    Jean-Paul. Satre1969

    A historian living in a French port town becomes overwhelmed by the physical realization of his own existence and the world's indifference.

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • A Fable

    William Faulkner1954

    During WWI, a French corporal leads a mutiny that halts the fighting. The narrative mirrors the events of the Passion of Christ.

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • In Search of Lost Time

    Marcel Proust2001

    A narrator examines his life through involuntary memories triggered by sensory experiences. It spans seven volumes of social observation.

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

Same elegiac register

3 more ↓

  • Hamlet

    William Shakespeare

    A prince of Denmark is told by a ghost that his uncle killed his father. He feigns madness while deciding whether to take revenge.

    elegiac → meditative

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Terror

    Dan Simmons2007

    Two British ships searching for the Northwest Passage in 1845 become trapped in ice and are hunted by a creature.

    elegiac → bleak

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Lottery

    Shirley Jackson1983

    Villagers gather for an annual ritual in a small town. The story follows the procedural steps of a lottery that ends in a public execution.

    elegiac → cold

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1