An engaging series of reflections on the literary landscape of our time -- from the writings of Roland Barthes to those of Stephen King -- Wood explores such issues as the shift of interest from novel to story, the blurring of the line between fiction and criticism, the persistence of the notion of paradise, the lure of horror, and the tendency of fiction both to reflect and to resist contemporary history. Wood casts his net wide: a brilliant dissection of Beckett's prose comedy is followed by an absorbing sequence of essays on Kundera, Calvino and García Márquez. Chapters on Toni Morrison and on Angela Carter lead us to chapters on Kazuo Ishiguro and Jeanette Winterson.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
"Books" writes Marcel Proust, are "children of silence," written and read alone. Nevertheless, according to Wood (English, Princeton, and film and literary criticism writer for London Review of Books and New York Times Book Review), modern narrative fiction has a tendency to move toward a more public discourse, storytelling. Taking the writings of French critic Roland Barthes as his starting point, Wood examines 14 modern writers chronologically from Samuel Beckett to Jeanette Winterson, including chapters on Angela Carter, Toni Morrison, Stephen King, Italo Calvino, and Latin American authors Julio Cortazar, Guillermo Infante, and Reinaldo Arenas. Wood's essays are sophisticated and insightful yet accessible, embracing an enthusiasm for the play of idea. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.?Thomas L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Univ., Savannah, GA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
"[Wood] is one of our most distinguished and lucid writers on contemporary literature." -- Janet Malcolm "[A] remarkable study of contermporary fiction." -- South Carolina Review
There is no better guide to the contemporary literary traveler than Children of Silence. Michael Wood knows novels, and he teases out of great books, mediocre books, and books of criticism conundrums that are enormously challenging, entertaining, and enlightening. There are plenty of books on contemporary or postmodern fiction but nothing like this one because no other critic can write like this with this range over different literatures and languages, and with this unflagging sharpness of mind. -- Louis Menand
Woods interpretation of the distinct qualities, vision, and meanings of each body of work acts as a paradigm for the process of discovery that is reading. -- Choice
Woods interpretation of the distinct qualities, vision, and meanings of each body of work acts as a pardigm for the proces of discovery that is reading. -- Choice
[A] remarkable study of contermporary fiction. -- South Carolina Review
[A] remarkable study of contermporary fiction. -- Review
[Wood] is one of our most distinguished and lucid writers on contemporary literature. -- Janet Malcolm
There is no better guide to the contemporary literary traveler than Children of Silence. Michael Wood knows novels, and he teases out of great books, mediocre books, and books of criticism conundrums that are enormously challenging, entertaining, and enlightening. There are plenty of books on contemporary or postmodern fiction but nothing like this one because no other critic can write like this with this range over different literatures and languages, and with this unflagging sharpness of mind. -- Louis Menand
Woods interpretation of the distinct qualities, vision, and meanings of each body of work acts as a paradigm for the process of discovery that is reading. -- Choice
Woods interpretation of the distinct qualities, vision, and meanings of each body of work acts as a pardigm for the proces of discovery that is reading. -- Choice
[A] remarkable study of contermporary fiction. -- South Carolina Review
[A] remarkable study of contermporary fiction. -- Review
[Wood] is one of our most distinguished and lucid writers on contemporary literature. -- Janet Malcolm
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
concerning imaginary people (usually living in real places); or more simply, a work of fiction of a certain length. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Cabrera Infante, Marco Polo, Roland Barthes, Stephen King, Three Trapped Tigers, Latin American, Kublai Khan, Sexing the Cherry, Florentino Ariza, Great Khan, Henry James, Mansfield Park, Samuel Beckett, The Castle of Crossed Destinies, Angela Carter, Infante's Inferno, New York, Promised Land, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Fermina Daza, Four Quartets, Malone Dies, Rose Madder, Sir Thomas Bertram, Song of Solomon New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
concerning imaginary people (usually living in real places); or more simply, a work of fiction of a certain length. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Cabrera Infante, Marco Polo, Roland Barthes, Stephen King, Three Trapped Tigers, Latin American, Kublai Khan, Sexing the Cherry, Florentino Ariza, Great Khan, Henry James, Mansfield Park, Samuel Beckett, The Castle of Crossed Destinies, Angela Carter, Infante's Inferno, New York, Promised Land, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Fermina Daza, Four Quartets, Malone Dies, Rose Madder, Sir Thomas Bertram, Song of Solomon New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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13
books
cite this book:
See all 13 books citing this book
- Culture and Imperialism by Edward W. Said on 8 pages
- Ill Seen Ill Said by Samuel Beckett on 8 pages
- Three Trapped Tigers (Latin American Literature Series) by Guillermo Cabrera Infante on 8 pages
- The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino on 7 pages
- Shadow Dance by Angela Carter on 6 pages
See all 100 books this book cites
- Just Silences: The Limits and Possibilities of Modern Law by Marianne Constable on page 8, page 75, and Back Matter
- The Cambridge Companion to Modernism (Cambridge Companions to Literature) by Michael Levenson in Front Matter
- The Aesthetics of Toni Morrison: Speaking the Unspeakable by Marc C. Conner in Back Matter
- Deaf Children and their Families by Susan Gregory in Front Matter
- Nabokov's World, Volume 2: Reading Nabokov by Jane Grayson in Front Matter
See all 13 books citing this book
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