Stephen Crane, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane My rating: 4 of 5 stars A man said to the universe: “Sir, I exist!” “However,” replied the universe, “The fact … Continue reading
Sarah Orne Jewett, The Country of the Pointed Firs
The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett My rating: 4 of 5 stars One recurring theme of my reviews is that classic literary works often defy or … Continue reading
Jens Peter Jacobsen, Niels Lyhne
Niels Lyhne by Jens Peter Jacobsen My rating: 4 of 5 stars This 1880 Danish novel was once immensely influential: it and its author were cited or praised by Hermann … Continue reading
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro My rating: 5 of 5 stars Never Let Me Go is a contemporary realist novel about a friendship and eventual love triangle among … Continue reading
Nella Larsen, Quicksand
Quicksand by Nella Larsen My rating: 5 of 5 stars This rigorously ironic 1928 novel of the Harlem Renaissance (its author’s first) has itself, in its afterlife, succumbed to an … Continue reading
Georg Lukács, The Meaning of Contemporary Realism
The Meaning of Contemporary Realism by Georg Lukács My rating: 2 of 5 stars I have always been attracted to the idea that art was more than about taste. Tabooed … Continue reading
Henry James, Hawthorne
Hawthorne by Henry James My rating: 5 of 5 stars This short 1879 book is Henry James’s critical biography of the man who would at the time have been considered … Continue reading
Henrik Ibsen, The Master Builder
The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen My rating: 5 of 5 stars In my understanding of Ibsen’s career, The Master Builder (1892) belongs to the end of his realist period, … Continue reading
Is David Mitchell the William Faulkner of the Twenty-First Century?
Clickbait title, I know, but please bear with me. I think I’m onto something; call it— An Essay on Fiction and Reality, Eternity and Time In the mid-1970s, Hugh Kenner wrote … Continue reading
