The Craft of Fiction (9781461075233) Percy Lubbock Books
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The Craft of Fiction (9781461075233) Percy Lubbock Books
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The Craft of Fiction (9781461075233) Percy Lubbock Books Reviews
Lubbock 's subject is the craft-of- fiction and he looks at work of Flaubert, Henry James, and Tolstoy in order to teach the tricks of the trade. Much of what he speaks about concerns point- of- view and much about the virtue of 'showing' rather than 'telling'. In one of the work's defining passages he writes, ".. the art of fiction does not begin until the novelist thinks of the story as a matter to be shown, to be so exhibited that it will tell itself To hand over the reader the facts of the story merely as so much information- this is no more than to state the 'argument' of the book... The book is not a row of facts, it is a single image; the facts have no validity in themselves. It is not the simple art of narrative, but the comprehensive art of fiction that I am considering' and in fiction there can be no appeal to any authority outside the book itself."
For Lubbock the consummate master of the techniques of 'showing' is James. And a central part of the work is devoted to analysis of the technique of 'the master'.
5 stars
Not sure what he was getting at. Writes like a pretentious Graduate school professor. I didn't find much of value and didn't find it worth the time wadding through. Put it down rather quickly.
Amazing.... this writer knows his stuff.
I bought the copy of the paperback edition with three examples of manuscript writing on a brown cover. For openers, the book is badly edited. There is no introduction, just two blurbs on the back cover. One says Graham Greene recommended it, and the other says Greene disagreed with Lubbock.
Inside, the title page has only the title and author, with minimal publication data on the next page. The Table of Contents is next, and the text begins on the verso of this table of contents, a sure sign of economy if not carelessness. At least each chapter begins on a new page. The worst fault for me as I read the text was that none of the book titles are italicized, ordinarily standard practice in publishing. And because many novels are analyzed, there are dozens of titles.
The book itself was recommended by some of my grad school professors back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I suspect that today it is read only by Henry James scholars. In order to exalt his friend and high priest of form and style, Lubbock discusses and dismisses some of the greatest names in European literature Fielding, Dickens, Thackeray, Tolstoy. Typical of his generation and earlier, he overlooks the great women novelists. Lubbock makes one assertion after another about the shortcomings of these authors without giving any examples of what he means. He seems to assume that anyone who has read these inferior works will understand him. And in discussing novels, he confines himself almost exclusively to male characters. Imagine "War and Peace" with no Natasha.
If you want to read this book, save your money and download it for free onto your KINDLE.
"The Craft of Fiction" won't make a great novelist of you, but it will teach you how to recognize one. If you're interested in how the great novelists do it, this is is a must read.
A deeply intelligent analysis of how an author's choices of POV and narrative distance impact the story a novel tells. I would not have appreciated this book before I had completed my novel. Now that I understand the mechanics of my own choices (or sometimes not!), this book has helped me see exactly what I can achieve, and how powerfully I can do that, during my revisions.
This is a rare analysis/craft book that goes deeper than a categorization of approaches a novelist can take, or formulaic prescriptions for "how to choose a POV," which are definitely helpful in the initial stages, if one is pondering how to to start writing a novel. Also, readers generally looking to understand what makes novels tick, but not immersed in the writing of one, might find the detailed treatment repetitive. But if you are revising your first novel or even a series of short stories, a close reading of this book could be worth an entire class in an MFA program.
This is not a casual read. It reads like a college textbook so be prepared for formal diction that is sometimes a bit convoluted. You need to be widely read in the classics to understand his examples. It is also somewhat dated, but is food for thought for the serious writer. This is a critics viewpoint of literature so is interesting from that perspective. It is of most interest to the writer of literary fiction,so if you write genre fiction this might be a waste of your time. I think John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction would be a better use of almost all writer’s time.
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