13 Ways Of Looking At The Novel

Product Descriptionfrom The Pulitzer Prizewinning Author Of A Thousand Acres Comes An Essential Guide For Writers And Readers Alike: An Exhilarating Tour Through One Hundred Novels That Inspires Wicked Delight. Los Angeles Times Book Reviewfrom Classics Such As The Thousandyearold Tale Of Genji To Fiction By Zadie Smith And Alice Munro, Jane Smiley Explores The Power Of The Form, Looking At Its History And Variety, Its Cultural Impact, And Just How It Works Its Magic. She Invites Us Behind The Scenes Of Novelwriting, Sharing Her Own Habits And Spilling The Secrets Of Her Craft, And Offering Priceless Advice To Aspiring Authors. Every Page Infects Us Anew With The Passion For Reading That Is The Governing Spirit Of This Gift To Book Lovers Everywhere.Reviewengaging.... Downtoearth.... Smileys Unmediated Voiceblunt, Uncompromising And Wittyrings From Every Page.... She Inspires Wicked Delight. Los Angeles Times Book Reviewa Massive Victory.... Awfully Smart.... Always A Pleasure. The Atlanta Journalconstitutionprovocative.... Wise And Humane.... It Reminds Readers Of The Novel Why They Love Their Avocation.... I Most Heartily Recommend It. The Christian Science Monitorthorough, Insightful.... Sure To Inspire Delicious Debate And Excite Interest In Undiscovered Works.... Her Critiques Are Shrewd, Artful And Unflinching.... Thirteen Ways Continues To Whisper Its Profundities Long After The Last Page Is Turned. Rocky Mountain Newsabout The Authorjane Smiley Is The Author Of Numerous Novels, Including A Thousand Acres, Which Was Awarded The Pulitzer Prize, And Most Recently, Golden Age, The Concluding Volume Of The Last Hundred Years Trilogy. She Is Also The Author Of Five Works Of Nonfiction And A Series Of Books For Young Adults. A Member Of The American Academy Of Arts And Letters, She Has Also Received The Pen Center Usa Lifetime Achievement Award For Literature. She Lives In Northern California.Excerpt. Reprinted By Permission. All Rights Reserved.The End Of September Is A Great Time To Have A Birthday If You Want To Be A Writer. Jane Austen Might Be December 16 And Shakespeare April 23 And Charles Dickens February 9, But For A Sheer Run Of Greatness, I Challenge Anyone To Match September 23 Through September 30F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, T. S. Eliot, Marina Tsvetayeva, William Blake, And Miguel Cervantes. And, I Used To Add (To Myself, Of Course), Moi. There Is Also A Gratifying Musical Backupgeorge Gershwin On The Twentysixth, My Very Own Birthday. I Never Hesitated To Bring Anyone Who Cared (Or Did Not Care) To Know Up To Date On Late September (Ray Charles, Dmitri Shostakovich) And Early October (John Lennon) Birthdays. It Was Rather Like Listing Your Horse'S Pedigree Or Your Illustrious Ancestorsnot Exactly A Point Of Pride, But More A Reassurance That Deep Down, The Stuff Was There, If Only Astrologically.But In 2001, The Year I Turned Fiftytwo, Whether Or Not The Stuff Was There Astrologically, It Did Not Seem To Be There Artistically. All Those Years Of Guarding My Stuffno Drinking, No Drugs, Personal Modesty And Charm, Good Behavior On As Many Fronts As I Could Manage, A Public Life Of Agreeability And Professionalism, And Still When I Sat Down At The Computer To Write My Novel, Titled Good Faith, My Heart Sank. I Was Into The 250S And 260S, There Were About 125 Pages To Go, And I Felt Like Dante'S Narrator At The Beginning Of The Divine Comedy. I Had Wandered Into A Dark Wood. I Didn'T Know The Way Out. I Was Afraid.I Tried Hard Not To Be Afraid In Certain Ways. Two Weeks Before My Birthday, Terrorists Had Bombed The World Trade Center In New York. Fear Was Everywherefear Of Anthrax, Fear Of Nuclear Terrorism, Fear Of Flying, Fear Of The Future. I Felt That, Too, More Than I Was Willing To Admit. I Tried To Remind Myself Of The Illusory Nature Of The World And My Conviction That Death Is A Transition, Not An End, To Discipline My Fears To A Ce