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Historical Fictions
In Historical Fictions Hugh Kenner applies his extraordinarily nimble mind and unrivaled style to the alchemy of speech turning into language, language becoming art, and art finally settling down as culture. A variety of literary topics are addressed in forty-three lively, often humorous, and wonderfully informative essays.
With his trenchant, famously entertaining touch, Kenner explores the role of counting in literature (Joyce and St. Augustine shared a preference for the number eleven); the extravagant efforts through the ages to preserve the Iliad and the Odyssey (focusing on Ezra Pound's contributions); and Tom Wolfe's prose through the purple decades (Kenner calls him "the nonchalant master of the neon-piped sentence"). Other writers who fall under Kenner's appraising gaze include Flann O'Brien, H.D., Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, Dante, Leslie Fiedler, Wallace Stevens, Saul Bellow, William Carlos Williams, Samuel Beckett, and Vladimir Nabokov.
With his trenchant, famously entertaining touch, Kenner explores the role of counting in literature (Joyce and St. Augustine shared a preference for the number eleven); the extravagant efforts through the ages to preserve the Iliad and the Odyssey (focusing on Ezra Pound's contributions); and Tom Wolfe's prose through the purple decades (Kenner calls him "the nonchalant master of the neon-piped sentence"). Other writers who fall under Kenner's appraising gaze include Flann O'Brien, H.D., Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, Dante, Leslie Fiedler, Wallace Stevens, Saul Bellow, William Carlos Williams, Samuel Beckett, and Vladimir Nabokov.
344 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
110 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 18, 2008
Just go read everything by Hugh Kenner. I read this a few months back, and since I’ve read about four Kenner books now, I can’t keep them straight. They are all good.
October 23, 2022
I had the pleasure of knowing Hugh Kenner, a truly brilliant literary critic via BIX pros.writers. This was an early, small social network. I'll never know how Huge ended up with a group of science-fiction novelists and technology journalists. But, we were glad to have him, and he enjoyed our virtual company. We spent a great deal of time talking about literature and writing. Fast forward decades later, I found this autographed book of some of his essays. Once more, I was in the presence of someone who truly knew, loved, and thought about literature at a deep level. It was a true joy
September 1, 2015
"...readability is the sum of numerous small felicities."
Thus does Kenner justify critiquing the niceties of various translations of Dante. And the scrupulousness he expects in other writers is what we get from him. This collection, which consists of book reviews and literary essays, is almost springy to the touch. Every phrase, it seems, is at high tensile effectiveness. Kenner expects much from the authors he writes about, and he is generous enough to expect a corresponding amount from his reader. An absolutely fascinating prose style, with content to match.
Thus does Kenner justify critiquing the niceties of various translations of Dante. And the scrupulousness he expects in other writers is what we get from him. This collection, which consists of book reviews and literary essays, is almost springy to the touch. Every phrase, it seems, is at high tensile effectiveness. Kenner expects much from the authors he writes about, and he is generous enough to expect a corresponding amount from his reader. An absolutely fascinating prose style, with content to match.
April 30, 2008
An investigation of a dozen and more literary items, pulled apart with wit, insight, and a minimum of reverence.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews