Novel Machine

How Fiction Works

James Wood's The Machine of Fiction is a masterful exploration of the magic of fiction. This renowned contemporary critic takes readers on a deep dive into the mechanics of storytelling, raising fundamental questions: What do we mean when we say we "know" a fictional character? What constitutes the details of storytelling? What constitutes a successful metaphor? Is realism realistic? Why do some literary techniques become obsolete while others remain resilient?
From "The Iliad" to "Make Way for Ducklings", from "The Bible" to John le Carré, James Wood draws on a wide range of materials, making "The Machine of Fiction" not only a masterpiece of studying the fictional techniques of novels, but also an alternative history of novels.
This book is a reprint, incorporating supplements from the new English translation (including a new preface), revised previously published chapters, and featuring a comprehensive update of the format and cover design.
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"The Novel Machine" will surely bring pleasure and enlightenment to practicing novelists, future novelists, and all readers who love to read novels...it is intoxicating.
—The Economist

Not many people can dismantle a novel as deftly as Wood... Wood's extraordinary golden ear is hard to come by.
—Terry Eagleton, Outlook Magazine

A fiercely engaged critic and accomplished stylist.
—John Banville, The New York Review of Books

Wood is one of the few contemporary authors whose influence has been immense… Reading Wood, no matter what book he reviews, is a great pleasure; his prose is effortless, his judgments swift and graceful.
—Gideon Luis-Carlos, Los Angeles Times

Wood's enthusiasm is magnificent. Reading beside him is like going birdwatching with a friend who has better binoculars than you and is willing to lend them to you.
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The great pleasure of reading Wood comes not from the examples he gives, but from not knowing what points they prove, but from learning so much by watching him read (rather than think) alongside him.
—Lev Grossman, Time Magazine

By observing the characters, the subtlest aspects of narrative, and the styles of a range of fictional works (beginning with the Bible and ending with Coetzee and Pynchon), he skillfully and joyfully pieced together the fragments created by the deconstructionists.
—Peter Conrad, The Guardian (UK)

2024-07-01

北京联合出版公司

New Thinking

258

9787559675606