Understanding Novels: A Lively Exploration of Literary Form and Technique

Description

'The approach is zestful and exhilarating. The style engages in a dialogue with the reader' Derek Neale, Creative Writing Tutor, The Open University Understanding Novels is a lively and entertaining guide to analysing literary form to make everyday reading more enriching, satisfying and fun. Bestselling literature author, Thomas C. Foster, writes in an informal and engaging style to show how a novel's structure - point of view, narrative voice, chapter construction, character 'emblems' and even the first sentence, serve to create meaning and form the special literary language of the novel. The way the story is told is as important as the story being told and influences how readers will respond. If readers are going to hold the life and death of novels in their hands, they should probably find out more about them...For book lovers and literature buffs who want to get more insight, more understanding, and more pleasure from their reading - this is an excellent, non-academic guide, featuring an impressive array of modern and classic literature examples.

Thomas C. Foster is Professor of English at the University of Michigan-Flint, USA where he teaches modern and post-modern literature, the classics and creative writing. He is the author of several books on literature including the bestseller How to Read Literature Like a Professor.

'for those who want to write novels, not read them' Independent on Sunday ' Whether you are a reader or a writer, you will learn how and why fiction works ' Writing Magazine, August 2009