The Practice of Writing

Description

An entertaining volume of essays, perfect for aspiring writers and curious readers. In this absorbing volume, David Lodge turns his incisive critical skills onto his own profession, salutes the great writers who have influenced his work, wonders about the motives of biographers, ponders the merits of creative writing courses, pulls the rug from under certain theoretical critics and throws open the curtains on his own workshop.

David Lodge (CBE)'s novels include Changing Places, Small World and Nice Work (shortlisted for the Booker) and, most recently, A Man of Parts. He has also written plays and screenplays, and several books of literary criticism. His works have been translated into more than thirty languages. He is Emeritus Professor of English Literature at Birmingham, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and is a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

"Sends the reader back to writers' works (including Mr. Lodge's own) with a renewed appreciation of what makes them tick and why" New York Times "These essays, so easy in manner, so well-built and informative, offer a fine blend of creative writing and criticism... The essays on writers who have meant most to him as a novelist, notably Graham Greene (on whom nobody has written better) and Joyce, are brilliant" Sunday Times "Mr. Lodge's meditations on Joyce, Nabokov and Kingsley Amis, are indeed small gems, the sort of essays you want to underline and commit to memory" New York Times "It is refreshing to be reminded that those who teach can also do" Observer