Which are the best unfinished books?

[jasque]

Books which, for a variety of reasons, were never completed by their respective authors.

Which ones do you know, and which are the best ones?

[kev67]

I can think of three, but since I have not read them, I'll wait and see if anyone else mentions them. One book that was possibly not even started was Flashman's adventures in the American Civil War. It was hinted in the other Flashman books that he fought (or cowered) for both sides. Unfortunately George MacDonald Fraser died before writing it, like I worried he might do because he was getting old. I was annoyed about that, because having hinted at it, I wanted to read it. The last Flashman book he wrote was Flashman and the Tiger, which was a collection of short stories and not his best work imo.

[jasque]

I can think of three, but since I have not read them, I'll wait and see if anyone else mentions them. One book that was possibly not even started was Flashman's adventures in the American Civil War. It was hinted in the other Flashman books that he fought (or cowered) for both sides. Unfortunately George MacDonald Fraser died before writing it, like I worried he might do because he was getting old. I was annoyed about that, because having hinted at it, I wanted to read it. The last Flashman book he wrote was Flashman and the Tiger, which was a collection of short stories and not his best work imo.

A book that was not even started, that sounds pretty interesting ^^

Thank you very much

[islandclimber]

Canterbury Tales ~ Chaucer
Dead Souls ~ Gogol
The Trial ~ Kafka

[Lykren]

Also The Castle by Kafka.

[FenwickS]

Gogol- Dead Souls no doubt

[loe]

Maybe it's not unfinished in the real meaning of the word, but without Proust's early death the last 3 or 4 (I don't remember) parts of La Recherche would have a lot more pages.

And it is really a pity that Gogol couldn't finish his Dead Souls - great book! :(

[kiki1982]

Was The Trial by Kafka unfinished? I seem to think it was. The Castle stops mid-sentence. Great great novel.

[kev67]

The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens was never finished, but can't say how good it is.

Patrick O'Brian's last Maturin-Aubrey adventure, which has been titled The Final, Unfinished Journey of Jack Aubrey. My father read it and thought it was good. I liked to think this was the adventure when their luck finally ran out, but my dad said this wasn't how the story was progressing. If they did sink with all hands then it was particularly unfortunate because I think he said Aubrey and Maturin had their families with them.

The Pale King by David Foster Wallace is described as incomplete, but still brilliant according to the reviews.

[Corona]

Was The Trial by Kafka unfinished? I seem to think it was. The Castle stops mid-sentence. Great great novel.
Yea. Kafka managed to write the ending, but it was still an unfinished book. As for The Castle, according to Max Brod, Kafka already had the ending in his mind, but never managed to put it down. However the concept of "finished" is relative in Kafka, not absolute.

[mona amon]

The only unfinished novel I've read is A Death in the Family by James Agee. I read it some thirty years back, and it was very good, I remember.

[swara]

Destined by P.C and Kristen Cast is the 9th of House of Night series, even with its nineth sequel the chronicle is far from completion and is unfinished.

[ennison]

Weir of Hermiston

[lawpark]

I can think of two:
1) Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov. The existing part is just promised as the first part of a longer (3-part?) work.
2) The work now called Dream of Red Chambers presumably by Cao Xueqin. The first original author (disputed as to who it really was) only finished the first 80 chapters which was clearly not complete as intended.

[mal4mac]

The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens was never finished, but can't say how good it is.

It's wonderful, well up to the standard of his best finished novels.

I just borrowed "The Weir of Hermiston" by R.L. Stevenson from the library, many consider it his best work, given the excellence of his finished works it should be good...

Both these novels were unfinished due to the untimely demise of their great authors when they were at the height of their powers.

[kiki1982]

Yea. Kafka managed to write the ending, but it was still an unfinished book. As for The Castle, according to Max Brod, Kafka already had the ending in his mind, but never managed to put it down. However the concept of "finished" is relative in Kafka, not absolute.

Yes, I read that when I was writing my post, but I left it in my post nonetheless. I think it was in a letter to Brod that Kafka told him about the ending to The Castle, although as you say, the idea of something being 'finished' is relative in Kafka. We should really presume that that was how it would have ended, had Kafka written his novel to the very end.

[jasque]

Thanks a lot you all people.

All your posts will be considered.

I'll start with The Castle and Dead Souls

[2X2E5]

The Idiot by Dostoevsky
Dead Souls by Gogol

[kev67]

The Good Soldier Schweik. I haven't read it, but Alexei Sayle keeps mentioning it in his memoirs. Supposedly a satirical war comedy by Czeck writer Jaroslav Hasek. It was intended to have six volumes but only three were completed.

[ralfyman]

Also, Virgil's Aeneid.

[Jackson Richardson]

Elizabeth Gaskell died before writing the last chapter of Wives and Daughters. It is a long time since I read it, but I understand the missing final chapter is totally predictable and the whole work is much admired.

I will re-read Jane Austen's Sanditon some time.