The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, springs to mind. I'm a bit fuzzy on it now, but I don't recall any particular descriptions of the protagonists. posted by Shepherd at 1:07 PM on October 9
I don't know if this counts as "well known," but I am pretty sure Philip Roth's Deception lacks any character description. posted by jayder at 1:10 PM on October 9
This isn't a direct answer, but The Tale of Genji, the Japanese novel some consider the oldest ever, names very few of its characters:
naming people was considered rude in Heian court society, so none of the characters are named within the work; instead, the narrator refers to men often by their rank or their station in life, and to women often by the color of their clothing, or by the words used at a meeting, or by the rank of a prominent male relative. This results in different appellations for the same character depending on the chapter. posted by Rinku at 1:16 PM on October 9
Blindness, by Jose Saramago, lacks names and a lot of other character descriptions. For example, people are described as "the girl with dark glasses." I don't remember there being descriptions of people's character, more just their actions. It's an amazing novel - one of my favorites. posted by foodmapper at 1:18 PM on October 9 [3 favorites has favorites]
Been a few years since I read it but I remember Yevgeny Zamyatin's We as having relatively little character descriptions.
Seconding Blindness as well. posted by mannequito at 1:20 PM on October 9
I'm a bit fuzzy on it now, but I don't recall any particular descriptions of the protagonists.
Seconding this, I just finished reading The Road yesterday and there are virtually no details about the two main characters including names, history or their ages (beyond one being an adult and one being a child), and then it goes on to not mention things like the location of events, the time it takes place in, or exactly what happened to lead the characters to where they find themselves. posted by quin at 1:49 PM on October 9
On the whole Ishiguro is a good bet if you like "undefined" characters also in the sense of them being unreliable narrators -- it's not as much about Ishiguro's characters lacking physical descriptions than them being pure mental self-constructs that break down over the course of his books. posted by Shepherd at 1:52 PM on October 9
Nicholson Baker's "Vox" comes to mind, but it's been a while & I can't find it on my shelf. It's just dialogue. Depends on what you mean by "character descriptions". posted by knile at 2:14 PM on October 9
If you mean hardcore no description, this isn't it. But if you just mean, a book that leaves out those little blurbs with the whole height, hair color, kind of details, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson fits. I remember mainly because those little blurbs always annoy me, and I was so pleased to have a book that left it out. posted by Margalo Epps at 2:29 PM on October 9
Nicholson Baker's "Vox" comes to mind, but it's been a while & I can't find it on my shelf. It's just dialogue.
I was also going to suggest this but if memory serves there's more than one passage of a character describing themselves to the other. Not sure if that's a dealbreaker. posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 5:28 PM on October 9
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco has little or no description of the main characters' appearance, although minor characters are described a little (often rather snarkily). posted by Quietgal at 6:43 PM on October 9
This may be completely wrong, by me memory from long ago is that The Castle by Franz Kafka would fit this bill. posted by alms at 7:29 PM on October 9
The main characters race in I will Fear No Evil, by Heinlein, is ambiguous throughout the book.
I'm not sure but I think the main character in Emergence by David R. Palmer fits the bill. posted by Confess, Fletch at 11:03 PM on October 9
I've just re-read Alan Dean Fosters' adaptation of Alien and there are no physical character descriptions at all. posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:06 AM on October 10
Not a novel, but my first thought was Katherine Anne Porter's short story, "Rope". posted by Beardman at 7:58 AM on October 10
JM Coetzee's Disgrace stuck in my mind recently, because he never explicitly says which of the characters are black or white, despite the book being filled with (and perhaps about) racial tension. posted by mjg123 at 1:33 PM on October 10
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posted by Shepherd at 1:07 PM on October 9