Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
42nd out of 89 books
—
2 voters
For a New Novel: Essays on Fiction
This is a work by the French author Alain Robbe-Grillet, translated from the original French.
Paperback, 175 pages
Published
August 17th 1992
by Northwestern University Press
(first published 1963)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
484)
I want to rate this 5 I think but I can't in good faith because I'm stupid and a lot of the language is quite dense and complicated (it may not be in the original french but I struggle to read essays in French because my non-fluency leads me to miss subtle linguistic details and therefore creates the danger of not properly following the argument) and I'm sure some points flew over my head. However what I did understand provided a fascinating, and often revelatory insight into the nature of ficti...more
Jun 22, 2008
Zalman
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of Robbe-Grillet or other writers of "The New Novel"
The essays in this book are witty, penetrating, thought-provoking, and surprisingly (at least compared with the reputation of Robbe-Grillet's novels as opaque and unappealing formal exercises) accessible. Personally, I love most of Robbe-Grillet's stuff, although in his later books the persistent repetition of misogynistic imagery started to wear me out. There's none of that here. Instead we are treated to such provocative musings as:
"We thus see the absurdity of that favorite expression of our...more
"We thus see the absurdity of that favorite expression of our...more
This collection of essays is not an explanation of the nouveau roman in general any more than it is of Robbe-Grillet's novels in particular. It is instead a brilliant analysis of the man's own view of the world, and the way that that view is manifested in his work. As for instance, the essay "Nature, Humanism, Tragedy," which begins with Robbe-Grillet's denunciation of what he calls "the myth of depth." Though he is explaining it in relation to his writing, the real subject has everything to do...more
Robbe-Grillet has been cast as the representative of a school-of-1950s/60s-French-writing. In these essays, he does not argue for the new novel, but for a novel that constantly renews itself. He encourages writers to let each book create rules of its own.
He casts Beckett in a new light (for me at least) in a few pages. His response to his critics is fantastically straightforward. I wish I had read this book in college--it would have dispelled a lot of ideas that took too long to shake off on my...more
He casts Beckett in a new light (for me at least) in a few pages. His response to his critics is fantastically straightforward. I wish I had read this book in college--it would have dispelled a lot of ideas that took too long to shake off on my...more
Breezy reminder that the search for new modes of representation is as old as the novel.
“To tell a story well is therefore to make what one writes resemble the prefabricated schemas people are used to, in other words, their ready-made idea of reality.”
“There is a famous Russian cartoon in which a hippopotamus, in the bush, points out a zebra to another hippopotamus: 'You see,' he says, 'now that’s formalism.'"
“To tell a story well is therefore to make what one writes resemble the prefabricated schemas people are used to, in other words, their ready-made idea of reality.”
“There is a famous Russian cartoon in which a hippopotamus, in the bush, points out a zebra to another hippopotamus: 'You see,' he says, 'now that’s formalism.'"
Contra Mario Vargas Llosa -y aún respetándolo mucho como novelista y compartiendo la sombra de papá Flaubert-, mi credo literario.
I put off reading this for many years, and I have no idea why. It's indispensable.
Read this in conjunction with Susan Sontag's first two essay collections.
Nice try. Oh well.
Jun 19, 2008
David
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
readers familiar with the novels of Robbe-Grillet, Simon, Pinguet, and their circle.
Introduction to the theory behind the author's avant-garde novels of the 1950s and 60s: turgid, polemical, revealing, and a tad repetitious, since this material was assembled from his essays and reviews. Noteworthy because it's rare to find a master practitioner of prose fiction who can at least begin to elaborate the principles behind the writing.
Robbe-Grillet is spot on in these essays... A very clear and precise vision that to me seems just as applicable today as back when he wrote them, and not only to the new novel but to art as well. Although I'm sure he'd disagree with me and chalk my excitement up to a lack of thorough experience... Great though! Great! Quoties to come...
Though I've been constantly thwarted in my attempts to get into him as a novelist, as a critic, I think Robbe-Grillet is fantastic. The essays in this book are really sharp, insightful, and well-reasoned.
my rating doesn't reflect the whole book: some of the essays drag on a bit and aren't really of much interest to me, but the ones that are certainly help to articulate my own views on literature.
Apr 12, 2013
thegift
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
art,
consciousness,
francelit,
literature,
pomo,
translated,
robbe-grillet,
nonfiction,
xperimental,
xshort-less-50kwords
not exactly a manifesto. not exactly a reading of french literature after WW2. not exactly… but always interesting.
view all 7 comments
"For a Nex Novel" or something...
May 18, 2013
Felix
marked it as to-read
May 12, 2013
Louis
added it
May 10, 2013
Rachel
marked it as to-read
May 05, 2013
Andrew
is currently reading it
May 05, 2013
Johannes Anders
marked it as to-read
May 04, 2013
David
marked it as to-read
Apr 28, 2013
Carla
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Alain Robbe-Grillet was a French writer and filmmaker. He was along with Nathalie Sarraute, Michel Butor and Claude Simon one of the figures most associated with the trend of the Nouveau Roman. Alain Robbe-Grillet was elected a member of the Académie française on March 25, 2004, succeeding Maurice Rheims at seat #32.
He was married to Catherine Robbe-Grillet (née Rstakian) .
Alain Robbe-Grillet was...more
More about Alain Robbe-Grillet...
He was married to Catherine Robbe-Grillet (née Rstakian) .
Alain Robbe-Grillet was...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
