Language of Fiction: Essays in criticism and verbal analysis of the English novel

by David Lodge

Overview

"The Language of Fiction" was the first book of criticism by the novelist David Lodge. In it he established a fresh approach to the appreciation of literature that focuses the reader's attention on the significance of language. This edition has a new foreword from David Lodge and includes in its entirety the comprehensive afterword from the 1984 edition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415290029
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/12/2002
Series:	Classics Series
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

David Lodge (1935-). Novelist and critic, whose many publications include Small World and Nice Work, both shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction.

Table of Contents

PART I The Novelist's Medium and the Novelist's Art: Problems in Criticism, Introductory Modern Criticism and Literary Language Poetry and Prose F. W. Bateson: Ideas and Logic Christopher Caudwell: The Current of Mock Reality The Argument from Translation Proust and Scott Moncrieff Compared Translation: Poetry and Prose The Argument from Bad Writing The Modern Movement in Fiction: A Digression Summary of Arguments J. M. Cameron: These Words in this Order Language and Fictional Illusion F. W. Bateson and B. Shakevitch: Particularity Conclusions to Section 1, Stylistics Style and Modern Linguistics M. Riffaterre: Scientific Stylistics J. Warburg: Appropriate Choice F. R. Leavis and the Moral Dimension of Fiction, PART II Introductory 1 The Vocabulary of 'Mansfield Park' 2 Fire and Eyre: Charlotte Bronte's War of Earthly Elements 3 The Rhetoric of 'Hard Times' 4 Tess, Nature, and the Voices of Hardy 5 Strether by the River 6 'Tono-Bungay' and the Condition of England 7 The Modern, The Contemporary, and the Importance of being Amis.

Editorial Reviews

'Perhaps because he is a good novelist himself, Mr Lodge's subjection of various writers to detailed linguistic analysis is illuminating and exciting.' - Daily Telegraph


'Perhaps because he is a good novelist himself, Mr Lodge's sujection of various writers to detailed linguistic analysis is illuminating and exciting.' - Daily Telegraph

'Something of a milestone in English criticism ... an important addition to English critical writing about the genre of the novel' - Tony Tanner, The Modern Language Review

'... in many ways the most interesting of recent books on the novel, knowledgeable and closely argued.' - William Righter, The Listener

'readable, sensitive, perceptive' - Robert Scholes, Contemporary Literature

From the Publisher