Estimated delivery 3-12 business days
Format Hardcover
Condition Brand New
Description This book draws on the author's column in the Guardian, 'Elements of Fiction'. Using examples from well-known recent novels, it examines the techniques by which fiction works. It will widen the vocabulary of anyone interested in contemporary fiction, not least by showing where it has elements in common with classic novels of the past.
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 ofnovelistic 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 andHardy'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 thenovelist. 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 onlyhalf-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 CrimsonPetal 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'sAtonement; John le Carré'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'sAiding 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
John Mullan is Professor of English at University College London. He is the author of Sentiment and Sociability: The Language of Feeling in the Eighteenth Century (OUP) and co-editor of Eighteenth-Century Popular Culture: An Anthology (OUP). He has edited several works by Daniel Defoe and has written widely on eighteenth-century fiction. A broadcaster and journalist as well as an academic, he writes a weekly column on contemporary fiction for theGuardian.
Grand Eagle Retail is the ideal place for all your shopping needs! With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and over 1,000,000 in stock items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love!
Shipping is FREE to any address in USA.
Please view eBay estimated delivery times at the top of the listing. Deliveries are made by either USPS or Courier. We are unable to deliver faster than stated.
International deliveries will take 1-6 weeks.
NOTE: We are unable to offer combined shipping for multiple items purchased. This is because our items are shipped from different locations.
If you wish to return an item, please consult our Returns Policy as below:
Please contact Customer Services and request "Return Authorisation" before you send your item back to us. Unauthorised returns will not be accepted.
Returns must be postmarked within 4 business days of authorisation and must be in resellable condition.
Returns are shipped at the customer's risk. We cannot take responsibility for items which are lost or damaged in transit.
For purchases where a shipping charge was paid, there will be no refund of the original shipping charge.
If you have any questions please feel free to Contact Us.