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How Fiction Works
 
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How Fiction Works (Hardcover)

by James Wood (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd (7 Feb 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0224079832
  • ISBN-13: 978-0224079839
  • Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 13.8 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 260,440 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Irish Times

'the overall spirit and implication of this book are as important as its direct statements'


Scotland on Sunday

`this compelling essay shows just how deeply, sensitively, imaginatively and joyfully he reads'
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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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 (3)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
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2 star:
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1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Our Strangest Critic, 25 Feb 2008
By Sam Allenby (Toulouse, France) - See all my reviews
  
This book comes with a quote from the New York Review of Books on the cover that describes Wood as 'the strongest...literary critic we have'. The missing words are 'and strangest'. I wonder why they chose to omit those words? And what does it mean to be a strong literary critic? That you can read War and Peace while holding it between your thumb and little finger? Having said that, this a gem of a book, although perhaps it should be called How to Read rather than How Fiction Works because there is very little examination of either characterisation or narrative. Instead there are many examples from writers such as Henry James, DH Lawrence, Virginia Woolf and Henry Green with critiques so perceptive that you feel inspired to return to their works. Wood's taste is at once austere and baroque: he wants the novel to do good, but to be stylish and new at the same time. And at least he doesn't recommend the work of Lawrence Durrell!
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12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Smart and uncluttered, 5 April 2008
Really enjoyed reading Wood on how fiction works. In a discipline rife with the verbose, the convoluted and the pompous, his plain clarity of thought is refreshing.
He's also unafraid to nail his colours to the mast and point at examples of very bad style from very established writers (Updike etc).
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19 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars How fiction works - James Wood, 21 Feb 2008
How Fiction Works James Wood
Jonathan Cape, London

I have no previous knowledge of Wood and very little of the works he quotes in illustrating his points. He says he has quoted from only books in his study.

Do not look to add to your list of jargon to pop into your next essay. Wood's style is accessible. There aren't many sentences you have to go back over to disentangle the structure. Nor will you have to refer to a dictionary very often, much less a dictionary of literary terms. He doesn't make the sort of grand generalisations that you can easily quote in support of almost anything. I wonder if this book is quite academically posh enough to quote, even if you do find something apposite. His messages seem to come as consistent whole paragraphs and not as soundbites.

The work all seems much like common sense as you read it. Wood examines free indirect style and pushes it to its limit, saying "Free indirect style is at its most powerful when hardly visible or audible." He agrees with Barthes that realism is pretty much impossible to achieve, but effectively asks why you would want to when the artifice we have can give us so much. You can read the book in a relaxed way and the argument is put calmly so that you feel you can interrupt with "Yes, but ...", particularly as he restricts himself to his favourite set of books. He is enthusiastic, joking and friendly. There's a little Graham Greene pastiche that's really funny.

I don't think the book lives up to its title. It is like one of these large coloured cross-section diagrams with many labelled parts but not a complete user's guide. Nevertheless, in the end it makes you feel you want read the books he has mentioned and have a browse around his study.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice introduction
I enjoyed this review of writing styles very much. The author opens up and displays the very obvious but craftily hidden techniques of the great novelists, focusing on the concept... Read more
Published 2 months ago by S. Zacharias

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative and relatively jargon-free.
I wasn't really sure what to expect from this book. I haven't studied English Literature since I was at school and was looking for something that wasn't overly academic but would... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Kirsty B

4.0 out of 5 stars Examining greatness in a literary world
An engrossing examination of the writers art, and a must read for anyone with a love of books and writing. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jeremy Persaud

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly exhilirating read
Don't take heed of the other reviews, this is a truly brilliant book. Part-literary criticism, part advice on how to write a novel, and part poetry. Read more
Published 9 months ago by R. Ahmed

2.0 out of 5 stars Great concept poor execution
To be honest this was something as an avid reader and an amateur writer that I really was looking forward to. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Gareth Wilson

3.0 out of 5 stars How Fiction Used to Work
I come to James Wood's work of literary criticism with a keen interest in literature and an open mind. I must say that I was not overly impressed. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Paul D

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