Understanding novels: a lively exploration of literary form and technique 9781408111062, 1408111063
The approach is zestful and exhilarating. The style engages in a dialogue with the reader' Derek Neale, Creative Wr
214 89 2MB
English Pages 312 pages; 22 cm Year 2010;2009
Table of contents :
Preface: Novel possibilities, or all animals aren't pigs? --
Introduction: Once upon a time : a short, chaotic, and entirely idiosyncratic history of the novel --
Pickup lines and open(ing) seductions or, why novels have first pages --
You can't breathe where the air is clear --
Who's in charge here? --
Never trust a narrator with a speaking part --
A still, small voice (or a great, galumphing one) --
Men (and women) made out of words, or, My pip ain't like your pip --
When very bad people happen to good novels --
Wrinkles in time, or Chapters just might matter --
Everywhere is just one place --
Clarissa's flowers --
Met-him-pike-hoses --
Life sentences --
Drowning in the stream of consciousness --
The light on Daisy's dock --
Fiction about fiction --
Source codes and recycle bins --
Interlude: Read with your ears --
Improbabilities : foundlings and magi, colonels and boy wizards --
What's the big idea --
or even the small one? --
Who broke my novel? --
Untidy endings --
History in the novel/the novel in history --
Conspiracy theory --
Conclusion: The never-ending journey.
Preface: Novel possibilities, or all animals aren't pigs? --
Introduction: Once upon a time : a short, chaotic, and entirely idiosyncratic history of the novel --
Pickup lines and open(ing) seductions or, why novels have first pages --
You can't breathe where the air is clear --
Who's in charge here? --
Never trust a narrator with a speaking part --
A still, small voice (or a great, galumphing one) --
Men (and women) made out of words, or, My pip ain't like your pip --
When very bad people happen to good novels --
Wrinkles in time, or Chapters just might matter --
Everywhere is just one place --
Clarissa's flowers --
Met-him-pike-hoses --
Life sentences --
Drowning in the stream of consciousness --
The light on Daisy's dock --
Fiction about fiction --
Source codes and recycle bins --
Interlude: Read with your ears --
Improbabilities : foundlings and magi, colonels and boy wizards --
What's the big idea --
or even the small one? --
Who broke my novel? --
Untidy endings --
History in the novel/the novel in history --
Conspiracy theory --
Conclusion: The never-ending journey.
