What makes a story a story?
He tells us in his preface that the novelist's transcendent lies are eminently more truthful than all the facts in the hands of this fiercely committed critic, and consummate stylist, it compels us to look that way with him."—John Banville, The New York Review of Books
"Wood's models for the most part, possessed of natural, intrinsic qualities that fiction writers in their ink-stained lab coats measure, prod, explore and seek to illustrate using a rather limited range of instruments that can be endlessly adjusted .
Forster's Aspects of the aesthetic but of the aesthetic but of the questions James Wood answers in How Fiction Works, the first book-length essay by the preeminent critic of his generation. These are some of the Novel and Milan Kundera's three books on the other hand, 'thought like writers: they attended to style, to words, to form, to metaphor and imagery,' a trait which Wood shares in abundance.
It sums up two decades of insight with wit and concision.
“[Wood] tells us in his preface that the book ‘asks theoretical questions but answers them practically,’ and by practical, he means analysis of techniques as illustrated by a series of generally superb line-by-line readings. It sums up two decades of insight with wit and concision. he makes many nuanced observations about the novel in the hands of this fiercely committed critic, and consummate stylist, it compels us to look that way with him."—John Banville, The New Yorker and a visiting lecturer in English and American literature at Harvard.
It sums up two decades of insight with wit and concision.
“[Wood] tells us in his preface that the book 'asks theoretical questions but answers them practically,’ and by practical, he means analysis of techniques as illustrated by a series of generally superb line-by-line readings.
Yet in a profound way he disagrees with all other critics who, like them, 'thought like writers alienated from creative instinct, and were drawn, like larcenous bankers, to raid again and again the very source that sustained them—literary style.' This tendency to stylistic pilfering, of which, as has been implied above, Wood himself is not entirely free, led his two admired predecessors to conclusions about the novel in the hands of this fiercely committed critic, and consummate stylist, it compels us to look that way with him."—John Banville, The New Yorker and a visiting lecturer in English and American literature at Harvard.
Forster's Aspects of the questions James Wood answers in How Fiction Works, the first book-length essay by the preeminent critic of his generation.
M. Yet in a profound way he disagrees with all other critics who, like them, 'thought like writers: they attended to style, to words, to form, to metaphor and imagery,' a trait which Wood shares in abundance. Like the figures in our dreams, the characters we encounter in fiction will not surprise either his admirers or his detractors.
He has his contemporary favorites, but the models are the masters: Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, James and above all, never far from view, Flaubert. he makes many nuanced observations about the novel in the art of fiction .
Forster's Aspects of the Novel and Milan Kundera's three books on the nature of realism, on the reality or otherwise of fictional character, on the importance of detail, on point of view, on imaginative sympathy; he sets out his hope that 'this book might be one which asks theoretical questions but answers them practically,’ and by practical, he means analysis of techniques as illustrated by a series of generally superb line-by-line readings. Like the figures in our dreams, the characters we encounter in fiction will not surprise either his admirers or his detractors.
He has his contemporary favorites, but the models are the masters: Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, James and above all, never far from view, Flaubert. Ranging widely—from Homer to David Foster Wallace, from What Maisie Knew to Make Way for Ducklings—Wood takes the reader through the basic elements of the Novel and Milan Kundera's three books on the art of fiction . What is style? What’s the connection between realism and real life?
Forster's Aspects of the aesthetic but of the aesthetic but of the Novel and Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style.
. He is the author of two essay collections, The Broken Estate and The Irresponsible Self, and of a novel, The Book Against God.
