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Consciousness and the Novel
As the richest record we have of human consciousness, literature may offer a kind of understanding that is complementary, not opposed, to scientific knowledge. Lodge explores the representation of human consciousness in fiction, mainly English and American, in the light of recent investigations in science.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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455 people want to read
About the author
David Lodge
152 books932 followersDavid John Lodge was an English author and critic. A literature professor at the University of Birmingham until 1987, some of his novels satirise academic life, notably the "Campus Trilogy" – Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses (1975), Small World: An Academic Romance (1984) and Nice Work (1988). The second two were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Another theme is Roman Catholicism, beginning from his first published novel The Picturegoers (1960). Lodge also wrote television screenplays and three stage plays. After retiring, he continued to publish literary criticism. His edition of Twentieth Century Literary Criticism (1972) includes essays on 20th-century writers such as T.S. Eliot. In 1992, he published The Art of Fiction, a collection of essays on literary techniques with illustrative examples from great authors, such as Point of View (Henry James), The Stream of Consciousness (Virginia Woolf) and Interior Monologue (James Joyce), beginning with Beginning and ending with Ending.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
November 26, 2015
A minha propensão para a leitura ensaística manifestada nestas últimas semanas, levou-me a escolher como última obra deste “ciclo”, “A Consciência e o Romance” de David Lodge, um livro onde o leitor é mimoseado com 10 ensaios e uma entrevista a propósito de “Pensamentos Secretos” ao Crítico Literário Craig Raine, director da Revista Areté.
Os ensaios contidos neste volume são os que se seguem:
1.A Consciência e o Romance
2.Crítica Literária e Criação Literária
3.Dickens, Nosso Contemporâneo
4.A Obra-Prima Imperfeita de Forster
5.Waugh e a Sua Cómica Terra Devastada
6.Vidas em Cartas: Kingsley e Martin Amis
7.Henry James e o Cinema
8.Adeusinho, Bech?
9.Doente de Desejo: o Professor Libertino de Philip Roth
10.Kierkegaard Aplicado
Lodge já era para mim uma incontornável referência enquanto romancista e agora, enquanto académico, consolidou essa impressão de excelência, apimentada (como não poderia deixar de ser!) com a combinação de seriedade e humor que lhe é tão particular.
Pela pena de David Lodge passam considerações sobre autores como Charles Dickens, E.M. Forster, Evelyn Waugh, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis, T.S. Eliot, Henry James, John Updike, Philip Roth e Soren Kierkegaard. Reflexões que têm como denominador comum a interligação ou interpenetração entre obra e vida por via da consciência.
David Lodge tem o dom do toque de Midas, tudo o que escreve é sempre dourado pelo mais vívido interesse mas destaco, de entre os ensaios acima mencionados, “Vidas em Cartas: Kingsley e Martin Amis” por ser uma análise eminentemente humana de duas vidas entrelaçadas por laços de sangue e ofício num comovedor retrato onde imperam o vigor e o declínio, a rivalidade edipiana e o humor ilimitado, patentes nas cartas de Kingsley e no livro autobiográfico de Martin "Experiência".
Os ensaios contidos neste volume são os que se seguem:
1.A Consciência e o Romance
2.Crítica Literária e Criação Literária
3.Dickens, Nosso Contemporâneo
4.A Obra-Prima Imperfeita de Forster
5.Waugh e a Sua Cómica Terra Devastada
6.Vidas em Cartas: Kingsley e Martin Amis
7.Henry James e o Cinema
8.Adeusinho, Bech?
9.Doente de Desejo: o Professor Libertino de Philip Roth
10.Kierkegaard Aplicado
Lodge já era para mim uma incontornável referência enquanto romancista e agora, enquanto académico, consolidou essa impressão de excelência, apimentada (como não poderia deixar de ser!) com a combinação de seriedade e humor que lhe é tão particular.
Pela pena de David Lodge passam considerações sobre autores como Charles Dickens, E.M. Forster, Evelyn Waugh, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis, T.S. Eliot, Henry James, John Updike, Philip Roth e Soren Kierkegaard. Reflexões que têm como denominador comum a interligação ou interpenetração entre obra e vida por via da consciência.
David Lodge tem o dom do toque de Midas, tudo o que escreve é sempre dourado pelo mais vívido interesse mas destaco, de entre os ensaios acima mencionados, “Vidas em Cartas: Kingsley e Martin Amis” por ser uma análise eminentemente humana de duas vidas entrelaçadas por laços de sangue e ofício num comovedor retrato onde imperam o vigor e o declínio, a rivalidade edipiana e o humor ilimitado, patentes nas cartas de Kingsley e no livro autobiográfico de Martin "Experiência".
August 10, 2010
I was sitting at my local coffeeshop this morning, chatting with a barista who went to school for creative writing and sidelines as a blogger/journalist when he's not overcaffeinating me in exchange for tips and decent health benefits. At some point, I lamented the fact that people in his writing program don't really have to read any literature. (Note that I was a math major that just took a lot of non-math classes at some fancypants college, so I have no room to talk). He made the argument that any literary spark in one's writing will come from inside, and that writers should just be instructed on form & structure. He got busy making coffee, since that's his job, and I was left to ruminate on why I was unsatisfied with his answer, and how glad I am that David Lodge exists.
Lodge received his Ph.D in English Literature the year he finished his first novel. He's a good novelist who falls into the tradition of funny-but-serious-but-really-funny British writers (Kingsley Amis, but nicer; Iris Murdoch, but less sharp); he's never won the Booker, but has been shortlisted many times and he's served as the head of the Booker committee. He also taught at a university for the first 27 years of his writing career, and has written a number of campus novels in addition to a fair amount of criticism. This is a collection of academic essays published by Harvard University Press; it should be dry and academic and should be avoided by general readers, right?
No. Even though this is a series of essays that mostly centers on the representations of individual consciousness in fiction, they're quite a pleasure to read. Written around the time that he wrote a novel about a cognitive neuroscientist and a novel about Henry James, the book touches on the cognition of characters in James several times, but there's also time for lots of fun anecdotes about Kingsley & Martin Amis's relationship, and about how the Bright Young Thing-era novelists fought against modernism and in line with new forms of narration in movies by staying on the surface. Also, he rips a bunch of movie adaptations of Henry James works while giving a lecture that's barely about Kierkegaard at a Kierkegaard conference.
In short: he's a terrific example of a "public intellectual". I'm glad he writes for the New York Review of Books, and I hope he does so more frequently.
(Oh, and as for why I found my barista friend's argument unsatisfying: to be determined. Possible answers: my fancypants education, the belief that you can learn all the structure and form in the world, but that being widely-read will inspire you in ways that knowing the how of writing will not; because the tendency is not to be well-read, and it's important for writers to counteract that themselves; because it's good to know that it's probably been done better than you can do it; because it's a helpful shortcut into another person's consciousness, real or imagined; because it just seems right.)
Lodge received his Ph.D in English Literature the year he finished his first novel. He's a good novelist who falls into the tradition of funny-but-serious-but-really-funny British writers (Kingsley Amis, but nicer; Iris Murdoch, but less sharp); he's never won the Booker, but has been shortlisted many times and he's served as the head of the Booker committee. He also taught at a university for the first 27 years of his writing career, and has written a number of campus novels in addition to a fair amount of criticism. This is a collection of academic essays published by Harvard University Press; it should be dry and academic and should be avoided by general readers, right?
No. Even though this is a series of essays that mostly centers on the representations of individual consciousness in fiction, they're quite a pleasure to read. Written around the time that he wrote a novel about a cognitive neuroscientist and a novel about Henry James, the book touches on the cognition of characters in James several times, but there's also time for lots of fun anecdotes about Kingsley & Martin Amis's relationship, and about how the Bright Young Thing-era novelists fought against modernism and in line with new forms of narration in movies by staying on the surface. Also, he rips a bunch of movie adaptations of Henry James works while giving a lecture that's barely about Kierkegaard at a Kierkegaard conference.
In short: he's a terrific example of a "public intellectual". I'm glad he writes for the New York Review of Books, and I hope he does so more frequently.
(Oh, and as for why I found my barista friend's argument unsatisfying: to be determined. Possible answers: my fancypants education, the belief that you can learn all the structure and form in the world, but that being widely-read will inspire you in ways that knowing the how of writing will not; because the tendency is not to be well-read, and it's important for writers to counteract that themselves; because it's good to know that it's probably been done better than you can do it; because it's a helpful shortcut into another person's consciousness, real or imagined; because it just seems right.)
March 6, 2013
Maravilhoso. Um livro sobre livros e escritores, sobre críticos e leitores. Um autêntico laboratório de autópsias, adornado pelo humor lodgiano (alguém já inventou esta palavra? Não? Posso ficar com os créditos?), onde se desventram romances e ficcionistas.
Uma obra de não ficção de um grande autor que é igualmente um grande académico mas que faz questão de escapar à pretensão e à arrogância de esfregar o seu conhecimento na cara dos outros. Num mundo cheio de sobranceria intelectual não deixa de ser reconfortante a forma modesta como Lodge admite alguns dos seus erros.
A Consciência e o Romance ensina, muito!, explica ao comum leitor vários pormenores da arte de idealizar ficção e da tortuosa tarefa de passá-la para o papel. Escancara a porta dos bastidores e, inevitavelmente, faz com que não consigamos olhar para um romance da mesma forma depois de ler este brilhante conjunto de ensaios. Como se isto não fosse já suficiente, Lodge apresenta-nos de forma ligeira a sua visão de outros autores consagrados como Henry James, Charles Dickens, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Kingsley e Martin Amis, Philip Roth, etc. etc.
David Lodge é fascinante (o capítulo final bastaria para prová-lo) e eu recolho-me à minha insignificância abstendo-me de tentar arranjar formas para exprimir o quão incrível é este livro. Recomenda-se a quem se interessa por crítica literária e desaconselha-se, veementemente, a quem quer continuar a ter o prazer de ler um romance através do filtro transparente do inocente leitor.
«A simples decisão de continuar a ler um romance ou um poema até ao fim é, em si mesma, uma espécie de acto crítico. Neste sentido lato, a crítica é, como T. S. Eliot afirmou, «tão inevitável como respirar».»
«Em 1996 fui convidado para fazer uma palestra num congresso internacional de especialistas em Kierkegaard realizado em Copenhaga e cujo tema era «Kierkegaard e o Significado de Significar». O que se segue é uma versão reduzida do que eu disse nessa ocasião. Nunca cheguei a descobrir o significado do título do colóquio.»
Uma obra de não ficção de um grande autor que é igualmente um grande académico mas que faz questão de escapar à pretensão e à arrogância de esfregar o seu conhecimento na cara dos outros. Num mundo cheio de sobranceria intelectual não deixa de ser reconfortante a forma modesta como Lodge admite alguns dos seus erros.
A Consciência e o Romance ensina, muito!, explica ao comum leitor vários pormenores da arte de idealizar ficção e da tortuosa tarefa de passá-la para o papel. Escancara a porta dos bastidores e, inevitavelmente, faz com que não consigamos olhar para um romance da mesma forma depois de ler este brilhante conjunto de ensaios. Como se isto não fosse já suficiente, Lodge apresenta-nos de forma ligeira a sua visão de outros autores consagrados como Henry James, Charles Dickens, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Kingsley e Martin Amis, Philip Roth, etc. etc.
David Lodge é fascinante (o capítulo final bastaria para prová-lo) e eu recolho-me à minha insignificância abstendo-me de tentar arranjar formas para exprimir o quão incrível é este livro. Recomenda-se a quem se interessa por crítica literária e desaconselha-se, veementemente, a quem quer continuar a ter o prazer de ler um romance através do filtro transparente do inocente leitor.
«A simples decisão de continuar a ler um romance ou um poema até ao fim é, em si mesma, uma espécie de acto crítico. Neste sentido lato, a crítica é, como T. S. Eliot afirmou, «tão inevitável como respirar».»
«Em 1996 fui convidado para fazer uma palestra num congresso internacional de especialistas em Kierkegaard realizado em Copenhaga e cujo tema era «Kierkegaard e o Significado de Significar». O que se segue é uma versão reduzida do que eu disse nessa ocasião. Nunca cheguei a descobrir o significado do título do colóquio.»
Read
February 27, 2016Literary criticism, footloose and jargon free.
January 17, 2020
Failed to notice that the book title applies mostly to the first essay, though I did end up enjoying most of the others (on specific authors) too and added to my 'want to read's in the process!
I really liked his observations about the two cultures and how, in approaching the experience of consciousness , literature has so much to teach us. Coupled with an accessible analysis of narrative styles and trends that have been used to portray inner life, this was perfect for someone less familiar with approaches to literary criticism.
I really liked his observations about the two cultures and how, in approaching the experience of consciousness , literature has so much to teach us. Coupled with an accessible analysis of narrative styles and trends that have been used to portray inner life, this was perfect for someone less familiar with approaches to literary criticism.
November 15, 2020
Believing Lodge to be a writer of light comedy, I expected this exploration of how literature depicts the minds of individuals to be somewhat lightweight. Not in the least. Lodge's academic experience makes this a fascinating, challenging and thorough tour of this terrain, full of ideas and information about the history of literature. If there was a sixth star available, I would have awarded it.
June 3, 2020
No more than 20 interesting pages in this 300-page book. Lodge might quite literally be the most boring writer I've ever read. As the book progressed, the points got further from the original theme and the subjects became even drier, to the point that it felt as if I was rubbing sandpaper against my eyes.
July 9, 2020
A thought provoking series of essays. Only the first one is strictly about consciousness and the novel. The others cover a wide range of topics, including an analysis of how Henry James' work has been adapted for cinema (successfully or not), the life of Evelyn Waugh and how it shaped his writing, and John Updike's short stories featuring the fictional Jewish author Bech. Overall very satisfying.
January 18, 2021
This study is an amazing document. A real treat for teachers and, really, all kinds of readers. Lodge's style is accessible while profound. It's also a wonderful guide to follow important literary movements, from early modernism (and before that, Victorian literature) to postmodernity. Lodge's panoramic is epic, convincing, entertaining and introspective.
March 9, 2025
Gave me a lot of valuable ideas both on how authors such as James Joyce, Virginia Wolf and HenryJames build their characters, and also how to build my own characters inner life when writing. Would recommend to aspiring authors and students of literature.
January 25, 2025
A really entertaining group of book reviews surveying the 19th and 20th century novelists.
December 29, 2020
Lodge spent more time talking about himself than he did about the theme of the book.
April 20, 2021
David Lodge'un kitaplarını büyük bir merakla aldım. Çok da iyi kitaplar, ancak Türkçe çevirisi maalesef çok kötü. Şöyle basit bir örnek vereyim: "female", "bayan" olarak çevrilmiş, varın gerisini siz düşünün. Çevirinin bütün inceliklerinden yoksun bir metin çıkmış ortaya maalesef. Orijinalini okumakta fayda var, o yüzden de. archive.org'dan okuyabilirsiniz.
May 1, 2013
David Lodge debruça-se neste livro sobre a forma como a consciência humana é representada nos romances.
Para isso recorre a obras de alguns escritores: Charles Dickens, E. M. Forster, Evelyn Waugh, Amis Martin e Kingsley Amis, Henry James, John Updike, Philip Roth e Kierkegaard. Acrescenta ainda uma entrevista que concedeu a propósito do seu Romance Pensamentos Secretos.
Lodge deslinda com simplicidade e clareza as várias técnicas que cada um daqueles escritores (e ele próprio) usou para representar a consciência humana.
Sendo um romancista consagrado mas também um crítico literário e um académico respeitado, não deixa pois de ser surpreendente a humildade com que confessa a sua admiração por cada um daqueles autores bem como a abertura com que fala na entrevista sobre a "oficina" onde (como) escreveu o seu Pensamentos Secretos, confessando até um ou outro erro, e desmistificando com toda a honestidade a ideia que normalmente se tem da perfeição de tudo o que um escritor consagrado (como ele é) escreve.
É notável que diga: "Os leitores de romances partem frequentemente do princípio de que o conhecimento de determinado assunto revelado nas suas páginas deve ser a ponta visível de um icebergue de informação submerso, quando na realidade a maior parte das vezes não há icebergue nenhum - a ponta é tudo o que existe".
Na capa do livro pode ler-se o "aviso": Enquanto leitor, prepare-se: a sua percepção de um romance, um escritor - e até da própria leitura - nunca mais será a mesma.
Eu acrescentaria que como escritor ou promitente escritor, a sua percepção daquilo que escreve e da forma como irá ou poderá ser lido sofrerá certamente um abalo.
Para isso recorre a obras de alguns escritores: Charles Dickens, E. M. Forster, Evelyn Waugh, Amis Martin e Kingsley Amis, Henry James, John Updike, Philip Roth e Kierkegaard. Acrescenta ainda uma entrevista que concedeu a propósito do seu Romance Pensamentos Secretos.
Lodge deslinda com simplicidade e clareza as várias técnicas que cada um daqueles escritores (e ele próprio) usou para representar a consciência humana.
Sendo um romancista consagrado mas também um crítico literário e um académico respeitado, não deixa pois de ser surpreendente a humildade com que confessa a sua admiração por cada um daqueles autores bem como a abertura com que fala na entrevista sobre a "oficina" onde (como) escreveu o seu Pensamentos Secretos, confessando até um ou outro erro, e desmistificando com toda a honestidade a ideia que normalmente se tem da perfeição de tudo o que um escritor consagrado (como ele é) escreve.
É notável que diga: "Os leitores de romances partem frequentemente do princípio de que o conhecimento de determinado assunto revelado nas suas páginas deve ser a ponta visível de um icebergue de informação submerso, quando na realidade a maior parte das vezes não há icebergue nenhum - a ponta é tudo o que existe".
Na capa do livro pode ler-se o "aviso": Enquanto leitor, prepare-se: a sua percepção de um romance, um escritor - e até da própria leitura - nunca mais será a mesma.
Eu acrescentaria que como escritor ou promitente escritor, a sua percepção daquilo que escreve e da forma como irá ou poderá ser lido sofrerá certamente um abalo.
September 18, 2012
I loved this book. It is a rare moment when a scholar who has perfected his knowledge in a field decides to entertain his reader without sacrificing depth and insights.
The first chapter "Consciousness and the Novel", the longest one (90 pages)is an attempt to define the peculiarity of the novel through a survey of the latest cognitive studies. The concept of "qualia" in cognitive studies, meaning the specific nature of our subjective experience of the world, is used to mark the domain of literature. Nothing but literature can capture the smell of freshly ground coffee or the taste of pineapple.
The book contains enjoyable and comprehensive studies in the art of Dickens, E.M. Forster, Waugh, Kingsley and Martin Amis, Henry James, and Philip Roth.
Strongly recommended as an introduction to a lot of these names.
The first chapter "Consciousness and the Novel", the longest one (90 pages)is an attempt to define the peculiarity of the novel through a survey of the latest cognitive studies. The concept of "qualia" in cognitive studies, meaning the specific nature of our subjective experience of the world, is used to mark the domain of literature. Nothing but literature can capture the smell of freshly ground coffee or the taste of pineapple.
The book contains enjoyable and comprehensive studies in the art of Dickens, E.M. Forster, Waugh, Kingsley and Martin Amis, Henry James, and Philip Roth.
Strongly recommended as an introduction to a lot of these names.
July 22, 2018
Friendly and sensible grab-bag. He’s certainly much, much more trustworthy than other humanities academics, on either topic.
His main question: what implications do the new cognitive and biological sciences have for yr subjective life and art? How damaged would the great novels be by decentreing and anti-human stuff?
(Aside from the long and thoughtful opening essay, inspired in large part by Dennett, we are given a jovial bunch to consider: Dickens, Forster, Amis elder and younger, James, Updike, with Roth and Kierkegaard the outliers.) Closing interview, with Craig Raine, is seriously stilted, but it’s because he doesn’t want to play the invited game, waffling deepity. And so this book: refusing to hide from the reality of the mind, succeeding in holding books to that reality, against great odds.
His main question: what implications do the new cognitive and biological sciences have for yr subjective life and art? How damaged would the great novels be by decentreing and anti-human stuff?
(Aside from the long and thoughtful opening essay, inspired in large part by Dennett, we are given a jovial bunch to consider: Dickens, Forster, Amis elder and younger, James, Updike, with Roth and Kierkegaard the outliers.) Closing interview, with Craig Raine, is seriously stilted, but it’s because he doesn’t want to play the invited game, waffling deepity. And so this book: refusing to hide from the reality of the mind, succeeding in holding books to that reality, against great odds.
January 27, 2017
The connection with consciousness seemed to get a bit tenuous in some of the essays, but still, I thought this was a very interesting take on how fiction portrays inner worlds. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the difficulties of making a film based on a Henry James novel, and I want to look up the relatively rare good examples of such films Lodge mentioned. The book also gave me some interesting insights into how writers work and what the creative process can be like, and these were probably the most fascinating thing in the book to me. Lodge is an engaging writer, so this was an enjoyable read. Now I want to go back and read some of his novels that I haven't gotten to yet.
December 8, 2015
CONTENIDO
Prefacio, 9
- La conciencia y la novela, 13
- Crítica literaria y creación literaria, 84
- Dickens, nuestro contemporáneo, 102
- La defectuosa obra maestra de Foster, 119
- Waugh y su cómica tierra baldía, 140
- Vivir en las cartas: Kingsley y Martin Amis, 157
- Henry James y el cine, 173
- ¿Adiós, Bech?, 199
- Enfermo de deseo: el profesor lbiertino de Philip Roth, 211
- Kierkegaard para propósitos específicos, 228
- Una conversación en torno a «Pensamientos secretos», 240
Notas, 255
Índice, 265
Prefacio, 9
- La conciencia y la novela, 13
- Crítica literaria y creación literaria, 84
- Dickens, nuestro contemporáneo, 102
- La defectuosa obra maestra de Foster, 119
- Waugh y su cómica tierra baldía, 140
- Vivir en las cartas: Kingsley y Martin Amis, 157
- Henry James y el cine, 173
- ¿Adiós, Bech?, 199
- Enfermo de deseo: el profesor lbiertino de Philip Roth, 211
- Kierkegaard para propósitos específicos, 228
- Una conversación en torno a «Pensamientos secretos», 240
Notas, 255
Índice, 265
May 4, 2009
This is a series of academic essays on consciousness in life, in psychology and in the novel. I have found myself re-reading paragraphs and pages to fully grasp the author's premises but generally worth the work. Not a must read for fiction writers, but I'm learning a lot that will be used in my own writing.
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June 19, 2013I only read the long title essay in this collection of "Connected Essays." It is quite good literary criticism, looking at developments in the form of the novel in relation to the experience and theory of consciousness. Lodge's view of cgnitive science is a bit naive, but his approach is so tentative that that doesn't lead him into too many absurdities.
August 12, 2011
I found these essays to be very interesting overall. Except the one on Henry James and the movies...that one just didn't keep my attention. I like Lodge better on novels not as a movie critic (not that that was his primary focus, but that's how I kept thinking of him).
May 4, 2007
I felt this one was a refreshing departure from the I-know-it-all media theorists. The author is a semiotician and a novelist and his ability to travel on both sides is extremely evident.
June 2, 2007
Some chapters interesting, others boring
May 13, 2009
Very interesting.
November 23, 2013
Whoops. Wrong consciousness book. This one is about narrative, and it's good, but not 5 stars. Sorry!
December 3, 2015
not bad, but more technic than I expected, especially because I was not in the mood for this kind. To retry again later
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews