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A Critic's Notebook
This collection of accessible, idiosyncratic essays explores such enduring literary concepts as character, style, tone, and genre. All have their origin in Howe's passion, moral striving, and abiding faith in the common reader. Edited and with an Introduction by Nicholas Howe.
384 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 1994
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About the author
Irving Howe
193 books46 followersIrving Howe was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 24, 2010
This is the first full-length work of straight-up literary criticism that I've read since college. It's been sitting on my shelves for nearly that long, and I got sucked into it almost without realizing it. There's a chapter called "How Are Characters Conceived?" which I read first, since I've been dipping into several of my books about writing recently, and decided to crack the cover on this book for the first time.
I fully appreciate Howe's approach to criticism (he was one of the New York Intellectuals and founded the magazine Dissent), his politics (inasmuch as one can appreciate the Democratic Socialists of America, thirty years on), and many of the authors about whom he chose to write (George Gissing, Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, Saul Bellow, etc.).
I also enjoyed several of the short subjects in this book, but I have to admit there were times when he lost me. Not because of an impenetrable prose style or a lack of interest on my part, but simply because he was writing so specifically about a piece of fiction that I haven't read. I much preferred the essays on more general subjects that occasionally used passages from stories and novels I hadn't read, because the passages served to reinforce Howe's point. Reading the essay on Rudyard Kipling's Kim, on the other hand, was like listening in on a conversation between two very interesting people who are talking about something you don't understand.
However, even some of the essays that centered on thus-far unread novels were interesting to me. In particular I enjoyed reading his thoughts on Tolstoy, even though I can announce with certainty that I'll never get around to reading War and Peace--despite the fact that, now, because of Howe's essay, I'm kind of tempted.
Overall, I liked that Howe was by no means a proponent of postmodern theory. In fact, he was quite the opposite, arguing for good, clear, and above all entertaining prose that is written as much for the "common reader" (if one can use that phrase without a disparaging connotation) as for the English lit grad. My kind of guy, in other words.
This was an enlightening book on many subjects of literature, from the use of seemingly gratuitous details in fiction to the value of so-called punitive novels, and I suspect I'll revisit several of these essays again over the years.
I fully appreciate Howe's approach to criticism (he was one of the New York Intellectuals and founded the magazine Dissent), his politics (inasmuch as one can appreciate the Democratic Socialists of America, thirty years on), and many of the authors about whom he chose to write (George Gissing, Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, Saul Bellow, etc.).
I also enjoyed several of the short subjects in this book, but I have to admit there were times when he lost me. Not because of an impenetrable prose style or a lack of interest on my part, but simply because he was writing so specifically about a piece of fiction that I haven't read. I much preferred the essays on more general subjects that occasionally used passages from stories and novels I hadn't read, because the passages served to reinforce Howe's point. Reading the essay on Rudyard Kipling's Kim, on the other hand, was like listening in on a conversation between two very interesting people who are talking about something you don't understand.
However, even some of the essays that centered on thus-far unread novels were interesting to me. In particular I enjoyed reading his thoughts on Tolstoy, even though I can announce with certainty that I'll never get around to reading War and Peace--despite the fact that, now, because of Howe's essay, I'm kind of tempted.
Overall, I liked that Howe was by no means a proponent of postmodern theory. In fact, he was quite the opposite, arguing for good, clear, and above all entertaining prose that is written as much for the "common reader" (if one can use that phrase without a disparaging connotation) as for the English lit grad. My kind of guy, in other words.
This was an enlightening book on many subjects of literature, from the use of seemingly gratuitous details in fiction to the value of so-called punitive novels, and I suspect I'll revisit several of these essays again over the years.
Displaying 1 of 1 review