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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.3
EAN: 9780374173401
ISBN: 0374173400
Label: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: July 22, 2008
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: July 22, 2008
Sales Rank: 1626
Studio: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
What makes a story a story? What is style? What’s the connection between realism and real life? These are some of the questions James Wood answers in How Fiction Works, the first book-length essay by the preeminent critic of his generation. 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 art, step by step.
The result is nothing less than a philosophy of the novel—plainspoken, funny, blunt—in the traditions of E. M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel and Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. It sums up two decades of insight with wit and concision. It will change the way you read.
Amazon.com Review:
Amazon Best of the Month, July 2008: The first thing you'll notice about How Fiction Works is its size. At 252 pages, it's a marvel of economy for a book that asks such a huge question and right away you'll want to know (as you might at the start of a new novel) what the author has in store. James Wood takes only his own bookshelves as his literary terrain for this study, and that in itself is the most delightful gift: he joins his audience as a reader, citing his chosen texts judiciously--ranging from Henry James (from whom he takes the best epigraph to a book I've ever read) to Nabokov, Joyce, Updike, and more--to explore not just how fiction works, mechanically speaking, but to reflect on how a novelist's choices make us feel that a novel ultimately works ... or doesn't. Wood remarks that you have to 'read enough literature to be taught by it how to read it.' His terrific bibliography will surely be a boon to anyone's education, but it's his masterful writing that you'll want to keep reading over the course of your life. --Anne Bartholomew
Customer Reviews Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Helpful for the general reader
Points in this book's favor -
It's short, and very readable. In the introduction, Wood promises to be "mindful of the common reader" and to try to "reduce .. the scholastic stink to bearable levels". He does a commendable job of keeping his promise.
Wood's enthusiasm for reading is evident throughout, and is infectious. The strongest aspect of the book are the many specific examples that Wood provides of what works and doesn't work in fiction. Refreshingly, the ratio of ... Read More
Rating:  - Self Indulgent
I first discovered this book while perusing the the lit-crit section of the local book store. Although my arms were full, I put down what I had and picked up 'How Fiction Works' and gave it a try.
A few moments later, I put the book down. Perhaps, I thought, it was because of my already-busy day, or the fact that I already had several books that I was more interested in reading. But I couldn't get into this book.
A few weeks later, I was back at the bookstore and decided ... Read More
Rating:  - Excellent
James Wood is one of the clearest, and most insightful of contemporary literature critics. This little volume is an extraordinary little to guide to creative writing from an obviously well read author. Wood privileges the modern realism of Flaubert and Tolstoy over more avant-garde approaches to literature. But nevertheless he is more than balanced in assessing the various perspectives on voice, detail, and character. He often emphasizes the importance of the inner tension between the voice of the author ... Read More
Rating: - Brilliant little book
Breathtaking exposition on the development of the novel over the last few centuries, in particular the "realist" style. Brilliant non-fiction gem about fiction. Opinionated rather than encyclopedic, but a great touchstone for further reading.
The design of the book is particularly inviting--its modest weight, friendly typeface, and wide margins make this book a pleasant evening companion--a book you aren't afraid to ask out on a second date. I plan to re-read it once or twice if I ever get it ... Read More
Rating: - Literary Criticism
I am enjoying this book, but am not enough of a scholar to give a serious or creditable evaluation.Wood talks about the author's aesthetic distance, and wonders if such a thing is even possible, because all the voices of narration are ultimately the author's voice, and all characters are ultimately aspects of the author as well. He devotes some pages to characters that are either flat, caricatures, or rounded and full. He cites many writers to illustrate, which I enjoy.I haven't finished the book, but I would ... Read More
How Fiction Works |
