ilchinealach reviewed How Fiction Works by James Wood
Review of 'How Fiction Works' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
Wood explains a few things you'll learn in your first second or third theories of literature class when your lecturer comes onto pratical criticism, or the tutor in 19th - 20th century novels gives you some rudiments of things to look out for; you could hand this over to a first-year english student or maybe a precocious teenager without doing too much damage.
a lot of the book is taken up with lengthy extracts from the most canonical authors, bookended by some milquetoast appreciative remarks, the rest are reasonably subtle polemics against literature Wood regards as improper, i.e. novels which aren't taking /exactly/ the right lessons from Flaubert. these sections are equal parts provincial, depressing, laughable. opining about the way DeLillo writes in 2008.
I would award the book two stars but I gave it one so it stands out to anyone truly enraged by it, so that they …
Wood explains a few things you'll learn in your first second or third theories of literature class when your lecturer comes onto pratical criticism, or the tutor in 19th - 20th century novels gives you some rudiments of things to look out for; you could hand this over to a first-year english student or maybe a precocious teenager without doing too much damage.
a lot of the book is taken up with lengthy extracts from the most canonical authors, bookended by some milquetoast appreciative remarks, the rest are reasonably subtle polemics against literature Wood regards as improper, i.e. novels which aren't taking /exactly/ the right lessons from Flaubert. these sections are equal parts provincial, depressing, laughable. opining about the way DeLillo writes in 2008.
I would award the book two stars but I gave it one so it stands out to anyone truly enraged by it, so that they can have their attention drawn to a blog written by the late great Edmond Caldwell, devoted solely to attacking James Wood (contrajameswood.blogspot.com). someone should publish it as a book
