Roman à clef is a novel about real people and events presented as fiction, requiring readers to decode the disguise.
Roman à clef — French for 'novel with a key' — describes fiction that depicts real people, scandals, or institutions under thin disguises. The form has aristocratic origins in 17th-century France with Madeleine de Scudéry's vast novels, where contemporary court figures appeared with classical names. It has thrived ever since whenever a writer wants protection from libel or wants the pleasure of insider recognition. Aldous Huxley's 'Point Counter Point' (1928) put the Lawrences in fiction; Truman Capote's unfinished 'Answered Prayers' (1975–1986) immolated his New York friendships; Philip Roth's 'The Anatomy Lesson' embedded literary feuds in fiction. The form is morally fraught — privacy is breached, reputations are bent — and its enduring popularity says something honest about why we read novels: to find out what really happened.