The Afterlife: Essays and Criticism [Paperback]

Penelope Fitzgerald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 2004

From the late novelist and biographer Penelope Fitzgerald, a collection of essays-almost all of them unknown to her countless American admirers-on books, travel, and her own life and work.. "A good book," wrote John Milton, "is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life." In this generous posthumous collection of her literary essays and reviews, Penelope Fitzgerald celebrates the "life beyond life" of dozens of master-spirits--their afterlife not only in the pages of their works but in the minds of their readers, critics, and biographers. Here are Fitzgerald's brilliant introductions to the classics-Jane Austen's Emma, George Eliot's Middlemarch, the works of Mrs. Oliphant-as well as considerations of recent novels by Barbara Pym, Carol Shields, Roddy Doyle, and Amy Tan. Here too are reviews of several late-twentieth-century literary biographies, including Richard Holmes's Coleridge, A. N. Wilson's C. S. Lewis, and Martin Stannard's Evelyn Waugh-reviews that together form a memorable criticism both of life and the art of life-writing. And here especially are extended explorations of "minor" figures, the creators of modest, overlooked, but fully achieved imaginative works, the celebration of which reveals so much about Penelope Fitzgerald's own artistic sensibility. Among these are Charlotte Mew, "who was completely successful perhaps only two or three times, though that is enough for a lyric poet"; William Morris, the consummate craftsman who, in life as in art, was determined to do "nothing shabby"; and the cartoonists and humorists of Punch, the comic weekly of which her father, "Evoe" Knox, was for many years the editor. She confesses she admires wit, values personal and artistic courage, and feels drawn "to whatever is spare, subtle, and economical." Rounded out by travel writings, bits of autobiography, and essays on the craft of fiction, The Afterlife is one of the most engaging books about books since Virginia Woolf's The Common Reader. As the critic Hermione Lee says in an appreciative introduction, in each of these "wonderfully sympathetic, curious, and knowledgeable pieces, Penelope Fitzgerald leads us right to the heart of the matter-the feeling of a novel, the nature of a life, the understanding of how something or someone works, the sense of a place or a time"-and does so with brevity, justice, humor, grace, and style.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

British writer Fitzgerald (1916-2000), winner of the Booker Prize for Offshore ( 1987) and the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Blue Flower ( 1996), wrote biographies as well as fiction and lots of subtly erudite, covertly witty, and altogether invigorating essays and reviews. Fitzgerald grew up writing--her father, E. V. Knox, was editor of Punch from 1932 to 1949--and is renowned for her understated style, a habit of restraint that makes for agile and piquant criticism. An extraordinarily discerning reader, Fitzgerald offers strong opinions on the art of biography; expert assessments of visual art, including illustration and cartoons; a keen sense of place; and avid interest in both lesser-known writers such as Charlotte Mew and such giants as William Blake and George Eliot. Fitzgerald's insights into literature are striking in their depth and freshness, and when she writes about her own literary practice in the sterling set of personal essays that conclude this unprecedented and enlivening collection, her piercing intelligence, precision, humor, and unwavering compassion are in full and resplendent force. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A great and welcome treasure for the Fitzgerald devotee." -- The Boston Globe

"Fitzgerald fans searching for clues about this master of reticence would do well to look here." -- The San Francisco Chronicle

"She achieves the best in first-person erasure." -- The Village Voice

"Treating serious things gracefully is also the hallmark of Penelope Fitzgerald and of this fine collection." - -- The Washington Post

"Unusually intelligent and sensitively selected collection of her criticism." -- The Atlantic Monthly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint (October 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582433208
• ISBN-13: 978-1582433202
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,432,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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