Is there any kind of fiction where multiple stories are connected in a recursive loop? The connection could be a character who writes or narrates the story. e.g.
- story A -> story B
- story B -> story C
- story C -> story A
Thanks in advance for any help!
One Thousand and One Nights, that is the oldest.
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.
Not for the faint-hearted – this book might cause you to write a thesis on it afterwards ;)
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell is pretty close
Subtle, but I thought of another one. Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun (five parts) – see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun
I’ve seen it described as a “palimpsest” – where a page has been erased to make room for more writing, but if you’re very careful, you can still read the original. At first glance, it appears to be a bog-standard fantasy travelogue, but as you read, you realize this thing is an onion with layers hidden underneath. It becomes a puzzle decoding the whole thing – a fun puzzle mind you, because there is still an entertaining surface level adventure going on – and as you peel back the layers, you realize that time travel is in play and the whole story becomes much more interesting. There’s a bunch of other sources non-linearity in it too, mostly due to memory transference. While you’re reading, you should be asking yourself “who is Severian?”
You could spend your whole life studying this thing.
You can try 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton! I really liked that one. It’s more Groundhog Day but with a bit of a twist on each iteration if that makes sense. I don’t want to spoil too much but it was a wild ride putting things together.
I’m not OP, but that one is on my radar, having recently read The Last Murder at the End of the World by the same author. With how much I enjoyed it, I have really high expectations of Evelyn Hardcastle, so it’s good to know it’s a great one too!
If by any chance you’ve read both, which did you like more?
I can’t think of any directly recursive books, the closest I can think of is
Tap for spoiler
The divine dungeon series
By dakota krout, keep in mind, knowing this detail spoils a fairly big reveal in the series so proceed at your own risk.
Dhalgren by Samuel Delaney is exactly what you are looking for.
Recursion by Blake Crouch
There are many time-loop stories in speculative fiction. Hell, there’s like a thousand episodes of sci fi TV with this premise.
But if you’re looking for a good one, try Hyperion (and Fall of Hyperion). The first book can standalone, but the second book gives you a more satisfying answer to your question. It is told in a Canterbury Tales style, with multiple converging retrospectives. But the principle antagonist is time itself. Very fun read.
Thanks for the suggestions! Some have been already on my reading list, because they went into that direction and others I’ve added. I’m not sure, if my wording was understood 100% and if these books are what I’m looking for, but I guess the acknowledgement of the recursion would be a surprise element anyway. Thanks again!
