Art and Idea in the Novels of China Miéville

by Carl Freedman

This book offers (in the first six chapters) critical readings of six novels by China Miéville, which are followed (in the seventh chapter) by a theoretical meditation on some of the conceptual issues raised by and engaged in the Miéville oeuvre.

183 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

Reviews

[Denni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odd to be giving a star rating to a book of (Marxist) literary criticism along with the novels I've read and then rated on Goodreads(same problem with books of poetry). I have very much enjoyed reading this book and reflecting on the Mieville fictions discussed in it, so much so that I'm desperate to go back and reread all of them in the right order! And the notes at the end are chock-full of other books and articles I want to chase up. If you're a Mieville fan (and if not, why not?), you are sure to find this of interest.

[Steve Lawless · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friedman is undoubtedly a big fan of Mielville. As one might expect from a professor of English literature this book is high academic in approach. I found it offered a number in sites into.the avillez books. There are a number of discussions of issues debated within the academic world of science fiction versus fantasy fiction. Is may or may not be of interest two different readers. I found there was over use and therefore obscuring of meaning due to the use of academic language including a significant number of foreign words. The use of plain English would have made the book far a more readable. Some of the points were made extensively and repetitively. Having said all that I would very much recommend this book to fans a highly accomplished author.

[Ian Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable dive into Miéville's work, with interesting analysis of the Bas-Lag novels from a revolutionary perspective, The City & The City from a nationalist perspectives, and Embassytown from a linguistic perspective. Overall enjoyable, though I felt the title was not necessarily reflective of the overall focus which was very heavily skewed on the influence of Marx, and perhaps the focus of this piece is not necessarily as embracing of other valid readings of Miéville's ouvre focusing on the other elements he so skillfully interweaves along with the themes chosen for this analysis. A thought provoking and intriguing analysis.

[Dennis Friedrichsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite aggressive Marxist readings of Miéville, but with many fair observations. I'm just not a fan of these very ideological readings of any kind of literature.

[T.O. Munro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as part of a project looking at climate fiction and how crime fiction in speculative fiction can examine issues of jurisdiction and world building. I was therefore particularly interested in what Freedman had to say about Mieville's "The City and The City" but found much else of interest in this analysis.

I will post a full review on the fantasy-hive website, in due course, and then link it here.