Umberto Eco’s Walks in the Fictional Woods

I have been putting off jotting down some notes on Umberto Eco’s Six Walks in the Fictional Woods, so here are a couple bullets, partly so that I just get them down, and partly because I’m afraid Eco would intellectually beat me up if I misrepresent him.

Six Walks in the Fictional Woods is a book [...]

James Wood’s How Fiction Works Analysis

Following E.M. Forster’s ASPECTS OF THE NOVEL, this past week I read James Wood’s HOW FICTION WORKS, a poetic analysis of the novel illuminating parts not touched by Lubbock and Forster. Wood draws on examples from through out literature’s history, giving particular attention to Flaubert as the one who changed everything.
HOW FICTION WOKRS [...]

E.M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel

Last year I read Percy Lubbock’s THE CRAFT OF FICTION, which was insightful and entertaining in a slightly dated way. Reading it made me realize how few books have been devoted to the structure of the novel, and I believe this is one reason E.M. Forster’s ASPECTS OF THE NOVEL receives so much praise. Forster [...]

Confederacy of Dunces Analysis

John Kennedy Toole’s Confederacy of Dunces does its best to capture the atmosphere of New Orleans through a handful of larger than life zany characters. These characters continually run into each other creating the affect that the city itself consists of only about twenty or so people, each of which has their own quirks and [...]

Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound Analysis

After having a recent conversation about Tom Stoppard, I decided to read his 1962 play THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND. It’s a play I first saw in high school and enjoyed but never revisited. I was surprised by a couple of things. I enjoyed it despite the lack of any real character development; it is a [...]

Amazon sales ranking

I mentioned a bit ago that I had put the last book I wrote, THE COMMITTEE, up for sale on Amazon’s Kindle platform to understand what authors’ experiences have been. I was surprised at the ease of the process and, once the book is available, how quickly changes can be made. The experience has given [...]

This Is Not A Novel by David Markson Analysis

I recently read David Markson’s THIS IS NOT A NOVEL and am still digesting it. It is a piece of experimental fiction and it a real page turner, which I found remarkable given it’s format. The story, and I call it a story because there is a trajectory; the reader at the end is in [...]

Further thoughts on Coetzee’s Waiting For the Barbarians

A little while ago I posted about having read J. M. Coetzee’s Waiting For the Barbarians. The books has stuck with me mainly for its minimalism and the depth of character it portrays. The magistrate depicted is real enough to hang some clothes on, but at the same time dramatic so that he is not [...]

Le Carre’s The Night Manager Analysis

Well, I said I was not going to read a new Le Carre for a while, and then I come across THE NIGHT MANAGER at my local bookstore and how can I pass it up. And it was good. Not TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY, but still good. No matter how much he stuck with the [...]

Marat Sade by Peter Weiss Analysis

I read THE PERSECUTION AND ASSASSINATION OF JEAN-PAUL MARAT AS PERFORMED BY THE INMATES OF THE ASYLUM OF CHARENTON UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE MARQUIS DE SADE a little while ago and have been meaning to jot down my thoughts. I have always heard that it is a very powerful play, that audiences react to [...]