The A.S. Byatt of On Histories and Stories , a collection that derives, in part, from lectures she gave at Emory and Yale universities, is a generous writer. She is generous to the writers she sees as her literary ancestors and colleagues, and she is unusually generous to her readers, whom she invites to step behind the curtain to observe the set-building and scene-painting, the research and rehearsal that precede the enactment of her own fictions.
Los Angeles Times Book Review - Michael Frank
Byatt does offer intelligent and insightful judgment with refreshing straightforwardness, avoiding choking academic rigor and theoretical dead-weight.
Other Voices - Paul Hansom
On Histories and Stories …offer[s] the most spirited and knowledgeable discussion of fiction’s basic questions that I have read for some time. These questions—the kind that surrounded the creation of the French nouveau roman , and were reawakened a decade or so later by the magic realists of Latin America—are rarely raised in the United States, where discussions of how literature represents reality have been smothered beneath the arid fuss of politicized deconstruction… Byatt is a vigorous exponent of the view that there is nothing wrong with making books out of books—with admitting that the impulse to write stems from enthusiastic reading, and that literary adventure takes place in a mental world generated from existent texts. Her own recent works of fiction are furiously bookish, and her Ellmann lectures propose a look at ‘the sudden flowering of the historical novel in Britain’… Her scope of reference and the number of her plot summaries show a gluttonous appetite for reading… She responds to ‘a general European interest in storytelling, and in thinking about storytelling’… Byatt is a writer actively searching for sources of energy outside the comfort zone of British social fiction… [Readers must] be grateful to have the art of fiction reworked in such knowing hands, by one to whom the pleasures and rewards of reading are so fundamental.
Each essay [in this collection] exhaustively examines either the process of storytelling, or the thematic relationships between texts Byatt favors or considers a part of the canon. And what composes the canon, Byatt argues in her introduction, should in fact be less politicized than it has become… Byatt does not deny how deeply politics are embedded in literary production but regrets the subsumation of a writer’s art into its social politics… It is certain that the essays in this collection, broad ranging and appreciative as they are of a variety of writings and writers, fulfill her description for what criticism should be.
PIF Magazine - Jacqueline L. McGrath
On Histories and Stories is offered as a defense, more or less, of British and European writing since World War II against claims of a loss of vitality made by post-colonialist scholars and writers, prominently Salman Rushdie. The book also defends the historical novel against the conventional charge of being either costume drama, bodice-ripper or escapism of another kind. Mrs. Byatt’s definition of ‘historical’ is far broader than that, extending, for instance, to a novel like Martin Amis’ Time’s Arrow which had for its protagonist a former Nazi officer whose life got replayed backwards. Third, Mrs. Byatt writes in defense of teaching literature—not ‘creative writing,’ she doesn’t do that—by emphasizing good reading in the manner of the New Critic I. A. Richards, that is, avoidance of stock responses and sticking to the text themselves. She also believes in extensive use of quotation in the manner of F. R. Leavis in his day—this rather than quoting from Jacques Derrida and others who, while doing exhilarating work, have led to ‘modern scholarship’s increasing use of the techniques and attitudes of art.’ Criticism, in her view, should be written in readily accessible language.
Washington Times - Colin Walters
On Histories and Stories is offered as a defense, more or less, of British and European writing since World War II against claims of a loss of vitality made by post-colonialist scholars and writers, prominently Salman Rushdie. The book also defends the historical novel against the conventional charge of being either costume drama, bodice-ripper or escapism of another kind. Mrs. Byatt's definition of 'historical' is far broader than that, extending, for instance, to a novel like Martin Amis' Time's Arrow which had for its protagonist a former Nazi officer whose life got replayed backwards. Third, Mrs. Byatt writes in defense of teaching literature--not 'creative writing, ' she doesn't do that--by emphasizing good reading in the manner of the New Critic I. A. Richards, that is, avoidance of stock responses and sticking to the text themselves. She also believes in extensive use of quotation in the manner of F. R. Leavis in his day--this rather than quoting from Jacques Derrida and others who, while doing exhilarating work, have led to 'modern scholarship's increasing use of the techniques and attitudes of art.' Criticism, in her view, should be written in readily accessible language.--Colin Walters "Washington Times" (3/4/2001 12:00:00 AM)On Histories and Stories ...offer[s] the most spirited and knowledgeable discussion of fiction's basic questions that I have read for some time. These questions--the kind that surrounded the creation of the French nouveau roman , and were reawakened a decade or so later by the magic realists of Latin America--are rarely raised in the United States, where discussions of how literature represents reality have been smothered beneath the arid fuss of politicized deconstruction... Byatt is a vigorous exponent of the view that there is nothing wrong with making books out of books--with admitting that the impulse to write stems from enthusiastic reading, and that literary adventure takes place in a mental world generated from existent texts. Her own recent works of fiction are furiously bookish, and her Ellmann lectures propose a look at 'the sudden flowering of the historical novel in Britain'... Her scope of reference and the number of her plot summaries show a gluttonous appetite for reading... She responds to 'a general European interest in storytelling, and in thinking about storytelling'... Byatt is a writer actively searching for sources of energy outside the comfort zone of British social fiction... [Readers must] be grateful to have the art of fiction reworked in such knowing hands, by one to whom the pleasures and rewards of reading are so fundamental.--John Updike "New Yorker" (2/13/2001 12:00:00 AM)On Histories and Stories , a collection that derives, in part, from lectures she gave at Emory and Yale universities, is a generous writer. She is generous to the writers she sees as her literary ancestors and colleagues, and she is unusually generous to her readers, whom she invites to step behind the curtain to observe the set-building and scene-painting, the research and rehearsal that precede the enactment of her own fictions.--Michael Frank "Los Angeles Times Book Review" (4/29/2001 12:00:00 AM)
Byatt does offer intelligent and insightful judgment with refreshing straightforwardness, avoiding choking academic rigor and theoretical dead-weight.
Each essay [in this collection] exhaustively examines either the process of storytelling, or the thematic relationships between texts Byatt favors or considers a part of the canon. And what composes the canon, Byatt argues in her introduction, should in fact be less politicized than it has become...Byatt does not deny how deeply politics are embedded in literary production but regrets the subsumation of a writer's art into its social politics...It is certain that the essays in this collection, broad ranging and appreciative as they are of a variety of writings and writers, fulfill her description for what criticism should be.
The A.S. Byatt of On Histories and Stories , a collection that derives, in part, from lectures she gave at Emory and Yale universities, is a generous writer. She is generous to the writers she sees as her literary ancestors and colleagues, and she is unusually generous to her readers, whom she invites to step behind the curtain to observe the set-building and scene-painting, the research and rehearsal that precede the enactment of her own fictions.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
On Histories and Stories is offered as a defense, more or less, of British and European writing since World War II against claims of a loss of vitality made by post-colonialist scholars and writers, prominently Salman Rushdie. The book also defends the historical novel against the conventional charge of being either costume drama, bodice-ripper or escapism of another kind. Mrs. Byatt's definition of "historical" is far broader than that, extending, for instance, to a novel like Martin Amis' Time's Arrow which had for its protagonist a former Nazi officer whose life got replayed backwards. Third, Mrs. Byatt writes in defense of teaching literature—not "creative writing," she doesn't do that—by emphasizing good reading in the manner of the New Critic I. A. Richards, that is, avoidance of stock responses and sticking to the text themselves. She also believes in extensive use of quotation in the manner of F. R. Leavis in his day—this rather than quoting from Jacques Derrida and others who, while doing exhilarating work, have led to "modern scholarship's increasing use of the techniques and attitudes of art." Criticism, in her view, should be written in readily accessible language.
Byatt defines and claims 'good reading' as her territory with elegance, economy and precision. And with a great deal more quotation from the writers she wants us to read closely than is usually the case these days...She, quite rightly, uses long quotations 'like the slides in an art historical lecture' because they are 'the Thing itself' that's crushed these days as literary theory has become a power game in which Derrida, Foucault and their followers 'make writers fit into the boxes and nets of theoretical quotations which, a writer must feel, excite most of them at present much more than literature does.' Byatt is genuinely excited by 'the Thing itself'—the historical narratives and storytelling—that she has found full of life and flourishing in Britain and Europe throughout the twentieth century in a body of works to which she has added her own contribution...Byatt's account of her 'search for impossible precision' in the writing of historical fiction is both an inspired and entertaining post-mortem on her own still-living and startled literary self, and a declaration of artistic and intellectual integrity against the historical relativism practiced by ideologues and propagandists of all persuasions these days...Byatt's arguments on behalf of forms of writing I've frequently disdained and writers I've entirely overlooked is sending my reading off in good new directions. That's her aim and she makes her points wonderfully well.
On Histories and Stories ...offer[s] the most spirited and knowledgeable discussion of fiction's basic questions that I have read for some time. These questions—the kind that surrounded the creation of the French nouveau roman, and were reawakened a decade or so later by the magic realists of Latin America—are rarely raised in the United States, where discussions of how literature represents reality have been smothered beneath the arid fuss of politicized deconstruction...Byatt is a vigorous exponent of the view that there is nothing wrong with making books out of books—with admitting that the impulse to write stems from enthusiastic reading, and that literary adventure takes place in a mental world generated from existent texts. Her own recent works of fiction are furiously bookish, and her Ellmann lectures propose a look at 'the sudden flowering of the historical novel in Britain'...Her scope of reference and the number of her plot summaries show a gluttonous appetite for reading...She responds to 'a general European interest in storytelling, and in thinking about storytelling'...Byatt is a writer actively searching for sources of energy outside the comfort zone of British social fiction...[Readers must] be grateful to have the art of fiction reworked in such knowing hands, by one to whom the pleasures and rewards of reading are so fundamental.
Expanding on lectures originally given at Yale and Emory universities, as well as on essays written for an anthology and the New York Times Magazine, British novelist Byatt weaves this disparate material together into a coherent artistic credo. Unlike her sister, Margaret Drabble, a fervent defender of classic social realism, Byatt is more of a postmodernist, fond of narrative games like those employed in Martin Amis's Time's Arrow or Graham Swift's Waterland. The two opening chapters make a reasonably persuasive defense of historical fiction, such as Byatt's own Possession, but the book really gets going with "Ancestors," a fascinating examination of the ways in which the natural sciences, particularly Darwinian ideas about evolution and time, have affected both the techniques and themes of writers as different as John Fowles and Penelope Fitzgerald. The bravura closing sections claim myths and fairy tales as the principal inspiration for modern fabulists like Italo Calvino and Roberto Calasso who are seeking, as is Byatt herself, "quickness and lightness of narrative." "The Greatest Story Ever Told" is not, to Byatt, the Bible, but the Thousand and One Nights, preeminent among those "shape-shifting" story collections that remind us "narration is as much a part of human nature as breath and the circulation of the blood." Throughout this cogently argued book, Byatt maintains a pleasingly direct tone, using the first person to state her reactions to particular books but always sticking to the point and seldom falling into self-aggrandizement. (However, the examples from her own work, though relevant, could have been elucidated more briefly.) Even readers who don't share her fondness for elaborately embroidered narratives will be struck by Byatt's well-argued contention that "European storytelling derives great energy from artifice, constraints and patterning." (Mar.) Forecast: Byatt the novelist reaches a broad audience, but this title features Byatt the literary critic, and is directed at serious students of literature. It won't enjoy the numbers that the novels garner. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
In these seven essays, the British novelist Byatt examines many themes: the historical novel as created by 20th-century English writers, the relations between scholarship and the creation of fiction, the modern European novel and its debt to mythology, and how fairy tales have influenced her and other modern authors. The three chapters on serious historical literature are from the 1999 Richard Ellmann Lectures in Modern Literature that she gave at Emory University, while the section on the European novel is an expanded version of Byatt's Finzi-Contini lecture given at Yale in 1999. For Byatt fans, the best essay is "True Stories and the Facts in Fiction," which outlines how scholarly serendipity inspired her novellas Angels and Insects. Plot summaries and extensive quotations from the selected texts will give readers an appetite to read the many novels discussed in these pieces, though the general reader may feel overwhelmed by the virtuosity of Byatt's complex insights and multiple interests. Recommended for larger academic library collections. Morris Hounion, New York City Technical Coll. Lib., Brooklyn Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Byatt considers the renaissance of the historical novel, and the complex interconnectedness of historical fact and historical fiction, with all her customary insight and intelligence.Times Literary Supplement
