false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166154068m/10349.jpg 10349 2 Never has contemporary fiction been more widely discussed and passionately analysed; recent years have seen a huge growth in the number of reading groups and in the interest of a non-academic readership in the discussion of how novels work. Drawing on his weekly Guardian column, 'Elements of Fiction', John Mullan examines novels mostly of the last ten years, many of which have become firm favourites with reading groups. He reveals the rich resources of novelistic technique, setting recent fiction alongside classics of the past. Nick Hornby's adoption of a female narrator is compared to Daniel Defoe's; Ian McEwan's use of weather is set against Austen's and Hardy's; Carole Shield's chapter divisions are likened to Fanny Burney's. Each section shows how some basic element of fiction is used. Some topics (like plot, dialogue, or location) will appear familiar to most novel readers; others (metanarrative, prolepsis, amplification) will open readers' eyes to new ways of understanding and appreciating the writer's craft. How Novels Work explains how the pleasures of novel reading often come from the formal ingenuity of the novelist. It is an entertaining and stimulating exploration of that ingenuity. Addressed to anyone who is interested in the close reading of fiction, it makes visible techniques and effects we are often only half-aware of as we read. It shows that literary criticism is something that all fiction enthusiasts can do. Contemporary novels discussed include: Monica Ali's Brick Lane; Martin Amis's Money; Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin; A.S. Byatt's Possession; Jonathan Coe's The Rotters' Club; J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace; Michael Cunningham's The Hours; Don DeLillo's Underworld; Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White; Ian Fleming's From Russia with Love; Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections; Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time; Patricia Highsmith's Ripley under Ground; Alan Hollinghurst's The Spell; Nick Hornby's How to Be Good; Ian McEwan's Atonement; John le Carre's The Constant Gardener; Andrea Levy's Small Island; David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas; Andrew O'Hagan's Personality; Orhan Pamuk's My Name Is Red; Ann Patchett's Bel Canto; Ruth Rendell's Adam and Eve and Pinch Me; Philip Roth's The Human Stain; Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated; Carol Shields's Unless; Zadie Smith's White Teeth; Muriel Spark's Aiding and Abetting; Graham Swift's Last Orders; Donna Tartt's The Secret History; William Trevor's The Hill Bachelors; and Richard Yates's Revolutionary Road 13065 7 12 2006 How Novels Work total:23|5:5|4:6|3:10|2:2|1:0| 23 83 51 6 3 0 false false Tue Aug 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 13:21:31 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 13:26:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jan 09 02:29:04 -0800 2009 Sun Jul 19 06:16:35 -0700 2009 why. As well as brief notes that illuminate the history of the novel, Mullan ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Aug 26 07:13:33 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 31 13:29:13 -0700 2008
The one fault of this bo...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jun 30 21:46:32 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 12 17:25:15 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 30 21:46:32 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Apr 18 09:24:43 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 18 09:25:34 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Sun Apr 06 21:01:56 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 06 21:02:41 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Thu Nov 26 18:43:44 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 26 18:43:44 -0800 2009 0 0 true false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Nov 06 21:17:49 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 21:18:57 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Thu Oct 22 02:03:46 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 02:03:46 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun Nov 01 16:32:16 -0800 2009 Wed Oct 21 10:04:21 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 10:04:25 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Oct 17 14:53:48 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 14:53:48 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 06 11:40:40 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 11:40:40 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Tue Sep 08 17:07:09 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 17:07:09 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Aug 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 16:18:43 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 07:08:27 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 13 06:36:28 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 06:36:29 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Aug 04 17:20:10 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 17:20:10 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Aug 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 14:17:15 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 05:30:18 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jul 08 10:51:43 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 10:51:43 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Sep 10 01:44:18 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 00:06:34 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 01:44:18 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Fri Jun 05 20:42:54 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 20:42:54 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=10349