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The Author's Craft
Arnold Bennett was an English writer best known as a novelist, but he started working in journalism when he won a literary competition hosted by Tit-Bits magazine. Moving up in the world of journalism Bennett became the assistant editor and in short order the editor of the magazine. After leaving the magazine and giving up his editor post he committed himself to writing full time while still devoting time to journalism. During the war he became the Director of Propaganda for France as well as working in film.My mother is far too clever to understand anything she doesn't like ~ Arnold Bennett
76 pages, Paperback
Published August 8, 2013
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About the author
Arnold Bennett
983 books312 followersEnoch Arnold Bennett was an English author, best known as a novelist, who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboration with other writers), and a daily journal totalling more than a million words. He wrote articles and stories for more than 100 newspapers and periodicals, worked in and briefly ran the Ministry of Information during the First World War, and wrote for the cinema in the 1920s. Sales of his books were substantial, and he was the most financially successful British author of his day.
Born into a modest but upwardly mobile family in Hanley, in the Staffordshire Potteries, Bennett was intended by his father, a solicitor, to follow him into the legal profession. Bennett worked for his father before moving to another law firm in London as a clerk at the age of 21. He became assistant editor and then editor of a women's magazine before becoming a full-time author in 1900. Always a devotee of French culture in general and French literature in particular, he moved to Paris in 1903; there the relaxed milieu helped him overcome his intense shyness, particularly with women. He spent ten years in France, marrying a Frenchwoman in 1907. In 1912 he moved back to England. He and his wife separated in 1921, and he spent the last years of his life with a new partner, an English actress. He died in 1931 of typhoid fever, having unwisely drunk tap-water in France.
Many of Bennett's novels and short stories are set in a fictionalised version of the Staffordshire Potteries, which he called The Five Towns. He strongly believed that literature should be accessible to ordinary people and he deplored literary cliques and élites. His books appealed to a wide public and sold in large numbers. For this reason, and for his adherence to realism, writers and supporters of the modernist school, notably Virginia Woolf, belittled him, and his fiction became neglected after his death. During his lifetime his journalistic "self-help" books sold in substantial numbers, and he was also a playwright; he did less well in the theatre than with novels but achieved two considerable successes with Milestones (1912) and The Great Adventure (1913).
Studies by Margaret Drabble (1974), John Carey (1992), and others have led to a re-evaluation of Bennett's work. The finest of his novels, including Anna of the Five Towns (1902), The Old Wives' Tale (1908), Clayhanger (1910) and Riceyman Steps (1923), are now widely recognised as major works.
Born into a modest but upwardly mobile family in Hanley, in the Staffordshire Potteries, Bennett was intended by his father, a solicitor, to follow him into the legal profession. Bennett worked for his father before moving to another law firm in London as a clerk at the age of 21. He became assistant editor and then editor of a women's magazine before becoming a full-time author in 1900. Always a devotee of French culture in general and French literature in particular, he moved to Paris in 1903; there the relaxed milieu helped him overcome his intense shyness, particularly with women. He spent ten years in France, marrying a Frenchwoman in 1907. In 1912 he moved back to England. He and his wife separated in 1921, and he spent the last years of his life with a new partner, an English actress. He died in 1931 of typhoid fever, having unwisely drunk tap-water in France.
Many of Bennett's novels and short stories are set in a fictionalised version of the Staffordshire Potteries, which he called The Five Towns. He strongly believed that literature should be accessible to ordinary people and he deplored literary cliques and élites. His books appealed to a wide public and sold in large numbers. For this reason, and for his adherence to realism, writers and supporters of the modernist school, notably Virginia Woolf, belittled him, and his fiction became neglected after his death. During his lifetime his journalistic "self-help" books sold in substantial numbers, and he was also a playwright; he did less well in the theatre than with novels but achieved two considerable successes with Milestones (1912) and The Great Adventure (1913).
Studies by Margaret Drabble (1974), John Carey (1992), and others have led to a re-evaluation of Bennett's work. The finest of his novels, including Anna of the Five Towns (1902), The Old Wives' Tale (1908), Clayhanger (1910) and Riceyman Steps (1923), are now widely recognised as major works.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 19, 2013
Written in 1914, this is a short exposition by Bennett on writing. He doesn't get into technique other than to expound on the need for "design" or "construction" to follow inspiration. He write with passion; indeed he mentions that passion is one of the two essential characteristics of the novelist. The other key attribute being a sense of beauty.
He also also discusses the key differences between writing novels and writing plays - having written about twenty of each.
He also also discusses the key differences between writing novels and writing plays - having written about twenty of each.
January 24, 2015
I'd already read How to Live on 24 Hours a Day by this author, and so when I came across this little book on writing, I was curious to read it.
My reaction was quite similar to my reaction to his other book. He's very opinionated, and seems to lack the perspective that his view is subjective. Writing plays, he informs us, is easier than writing novels, despite what people may say. The only people who are qualified to judge such a thing, he declares, are those who write both and are equally successful in both - and he sees himself in that category. Therefore, because he says so, plays are easier to write. It doesn't seem to occur to him that someone else might find novels easier to write!
But it's an engaging read - I like the beginning, where he sets up a scene about a dog, and uses that to write about observation. I take most of what he says with a pinch of salt, because it's so subjective and Bennett lacks the self-awareness to realise this. But he's vigorous and says some pretty sensible things sometimes, and sometimes is rather humorous, so it's not a boring read. More a fascinating insight into a certain man's perspective at a certain point in time.
I was quite amused at his dismissal of Dickens - according to Bennett, authors need to have a noble mind, but the trouble with Dickens is that 'the texture of his mind was common'. He doesn't give any specifics, so I'm not sure if this is about Dickens' social class or his characters - it's just a sweeping statement that the reader is supposed to take at face value. It's quite amusing to observe him state boldly what inferior writers Tolstoy and Dickens and Flaubert are! I wonder if he saw his own novels as superior.
Anyway, not a book to read if you're looking for serious advice about writing! But an interesting little book, nonetheless.
My reaction was quite similar to my reaction to his other book. He's very opinionated, and seems to lack the perspective that his view is subjective. Writing plays, he informs us, is easier than writing novels, despite what people may say. The only people who are qualified to judge such a thing, he declares, are those who write both and are equally successful in both - and he sees himself in that category. Therefore, because he says so, plays are easier to write. It doesn't seem to occur to him that someone else might find novels easier to write!
But it's an engaging read - I like the beginning, where he sets up a scene about a dog, and uses that to write about observation. I take most of what he says with a pinch of salt, because it's so subjective and Bennett lacks the self-awareness to realise this. But he's vigorous and says some pretty sensible things sometimes, and sometimes is rather humorous, so it's not a boring read. More a fascinating insight into a certain man's perspective at a certain point in time.
I was quite amused at his dismissal of Dickens - according to Bennett, authors need to have a noble mind, but the trouble with Dickens is that 'the texture of his mind was common'. He doesn't give any specifics, so I'm not sure if this is about Dickens' social class or his characters - it's just a sweeping statement that the reader is supposed to take at face value. It's quite amusing to observe him state boldly what inferior writers Tolstoy and Dickens and Flaubert are! I wonder if he saw his own novels as superior.
Anyway, not a book to read if you're looking for serious advice about writing! But an interesting little book, nonetheless.
February 10, 2014
A short take on the art of writing. Very opinionated in parts and unrelateable in others. I learned a few things but it was not the most informative piece of reading on this subject.
June 19, 2014
its quite interesting.. short story
May 28, 2017
I'm surprised I actually read this through to the end.
I did like little snippets of his ideas though:
"We cannot invent psychology."
"No novelist has yet, or ever will, come within a hundred million miles of life itself."
This work would probably be more interesting if looked at comparatively with other ideas within the same time period and then onwards. By itself, it's too opinionated, dull, dreary, not exactly multifaceted, kind of insightful but it doesn't support itself as a work in itself (for my interests.) I'm disappointed! At least it's a good starting point and a peer into the mind of someone else -- which is a sort of privilege.
Definitely not a waste of time to read this, since it's quite short anyway, but it's not exactly engaging or revelatory. Interesting to look at as a historical piece of writing though.
I did like little snippets of his ideas though:
"We cannot invent psychology."
"No novelist has yet, or ever will, come within a hundred million miles of life itself."
This work would probably be more interesting if looked at comparatively with other ideas within the same time period and then onwards. By itself, it's too opinionated, dull, dreary, not exactly multifaceted, kind of insightful but it doesn't support itself as a work in itself (for my interests.) I'm disappointed! At least it's a good starting point and a peer into the mind of someone else -- which is a sort of privilege.
Definitely not a waste of time to read this, since it's quite short anyway, but it's not exactly engaging or revelatory. Interesting to look at as a historical piece of writing though.
February 6, 2016
"The world is without doubt a very bad world; but it is also a very good world. The function of the artist is certainly concerned more with what is than with what ought to be."
There is no doubt that this book could attract fewer readers, but if the reader is a writer, the book becomes a handbook to "how to see and observe the immediate surrounding". How many of you, after witnessing a puppy's demise in a road accident, would stop by to really observe the scene? Well, the author Arnold Bennett spent his precious time in earnestly explaining a small road accident. In the next flip of pages, the author has vividly explained the art of novel writing, plays and dramas.
Creative writing requires acute mastery of precise selection of words, that not just explains a story, but pulls out the soul of readers from the eyes and forces each cell of their body to tune in the same imagination as the writer wants them to. It is not about the typing the words, but diffusing a creative essence that should, at any cost bring goose bumps to the readers.
There is no doubt that this book could attract fewer readers, but if the reader is a writer, the book becomes a handbook to "how to see and observe the immediate surrounding". How many of you, after witnessing a puppy's demise in a road accident, would stop by to really observe the scene? Well, the author Arnold Bennett spent his precious time in earnestly explaining a small road accident. In the next flip of pages, the author has vividly explained the art of novel writing, plays and dramas.
Creative writing requires acute mastery of precise selection of words, that not just explains a story, but pulls out the soul of readers from the eyes and forces each cell of their body to tune in the same imagination as the writer wants them to. It is not about the typing the words, but diffusing a creative essence that should, at any cost bring goose bumps to the readers.
December 30, 2014
An interesting read for those wishing to write. Certainly the author makes a number of good points that I have heard before. I will admit I tired, particularly in the middle, of some of his opinions. He seemed to criticize the works of men known far better than himself. The section I found most enlightning was in the beginning when he commented on being more observant.
May 30, 2014
Interesting book. The section on real observation was wonderful, as was his section on the relationship of the author to the public.
January 21, 2016
I thought this was well written, and I quite enjoyed his thoughts on writing. I recommend this book to anyone looking for an in depth opinion on how to go about things.
January 6, 2017
The role of the artist is to be an observer in an active way, not passive; not gathering a considerable number of data, but collecting and interrelating imaginative patterns.
Author's become so excited by what they observe in life, they must share the story of intense vision and recognition of beauty now constructed in a design that holds the reader's interest.
Novels are longer than plays, even adding in the stage technique and collaborative process of rehearsal for the theater.
Some artists demand public appreciation and perhaps desire too much. Some lack business skills.
This was delightful and fun to read.
Author's become so excited by what they observe in life, they must share the story of intense vision and recognition of beauty now constructed in a design that holds the reader's interest.
Novels are longer than plays, even adding in the stage technique and collaborative process of rehearsal for the theater.
Some artists demand public appreciation and perhaps desire too much. Some lack business skills.
This was delightful and fun to read.
October 26, 2021
Interesting book, and most likely for reasons the author would not like. Bennet clearly rejects the idea of God and yet grounds the craft of the author (who he shapes as the artist) in the garments of truth and beauty. His main criticism of the author/artist is when they deviate from what is true as they pursue the ethereal.
It does make for good reading and is more of a primer than a tell all about the craft of the author. If anything Bennet shows that the craft of the author is improved over time as one lives life to the full and seeks to break down reality into edible chunks for the masses.
It does make for good reading and is more of a primer than a tell all about the craft of the author. If anything Bennet shows that the craft of the author is improved over time as one lives life to the full and seeks to break down reality into edible chunks for the masses.
July 6, 2019
I don't really know what to think of it, may be I will read it again
May 30, 2015
Wouldn't it be nice if what author requires of other authors he expected of himself. Good idea, but said in too many words.
January 15, 2017
Nice strategies for the young writers to improve their abilities...
January 29, 2019
Not really a "how to" book, more on how an author should see and think.
Divided in 4 parts:
I. Seeing Life
II. Writing Novels
III. Writing Plays
IV. The Artist And The Public
Part one is on observational skills, and occasionally a little difficult to understand. I expected to be bored by the part on writing plays, but it turned out to be more of a putting-in-their-place of uppity dramatists who claim writing a play is more difficult than writing a novel. I found it funny. The last part is particularly interesting in light of the current changes taking place around epublishing as it talks about the writer's role in marketing, as well as the issue of writing for "art" or writing for the public.
Divided in 4 parts:
I. Seeing Life
II. Writing Novels
III. Writing Plays
IV. The Artist And The Public
Part one is on observational skills, and occasionally a little difficult to understand. I expected to be bored by the part on writing plays, but it turned out to be more of a putting-in-their-place of uppity dramatists who claim writing a play is more difficult than writing a novel. I found it funny. The last part is particularly interesting in light of the current changes taking place around epublishing as it talks about the writer's role in marketing, as well as the issue of writing for "art" or writing for the public.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews