What is a Novel?
A novel is a long work of prose fiction. EW is a long work of prose. It is also fiction — the fiction that this is a conventional novel. Case closed.
The technical definition
A novel is generally defined as a work of prose fiction of substantial length — typically over 40,000 words. It is distinguished from short stories and novellas by length, and from non-fiction by its fictional nature.
What EW does to the definition
EW is 261 pages long, which qualifies on length. It is prose — each page consists of the word 'ew'. It raises the question: is repetition of a single word 'prose'? Is it 'fiction'? These questions are the point of the book.
The joke about form
The Archive presents EW as 'a novel.' The formal framing — cover, spine, 261 pages, ISBN, available at shop.nikitadatar.com — does all the work of a novel. What the pages contain is the punchline. The form makes the joke possible.
Related reading
What is a Conceptual Book · Books as Objects · One-Word Books · EW