R. K. Narayan (Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami,) one of India’s notable English-language authors writes in the epilogue to The Talkative Man about the contended brevity of his novel:

The difficulty lies perhaps in classification. Talkative Man is too long to be a short story, but is it too short for a novel? I prefer the shorter form, because it gives me scope for elaboration of details, but within certain limits; I can take up a variety of subjects and get through each in a reasonable time, while a novel ties me down to a single theme for at least two years! When I am at work on a novel, I imagine that I am keeping a crowd of characters waiting outside my door, who are in search of their author.