{"product_id":"the-novel-a-biography-hardcover","title":"The Novel: A Biography - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMichael Schmidt\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 700-year history of the novel in English defies straightforward telling. Geographically and culturally boundless, with contributions from Great Britain, Ireland, America, Canada, Australia, India, the Caribbean, and Southern Africa; influenced by great novelists working in other languages; and encompassing a range of genres, the story of the novel in English unfolds like a richly varied landscape that invites exploration rather than a linear journey. In \u003ci\u003eThe Novel: A Biography, \u003c\/i\u003eMichael Schmidt does full justice to its complexity. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLike his hero Ford Madox Ford in \u003ci\u003eThe March of Literature\u003c\/i\u003e, Schmidt chooses as his traveling companions not critics or theorists but artist practitioners, men and women who feel hot love for the books they admire, and fulminate against those they dislike. It is their insights Schmidt cares about. Quoting from the letters, diaries, reviews, and essays of novelists and drawing on their biographies, Schmidt invites us into the creative dialogues between authors and between books, and suggests how these dialogues have shaped the development of the novel in English. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSchmidt believes there is something fundamentally subversive about art: he portrays the novel as a liberalizing force and a revolutionary stimulus. But whatever purpose the novel serves in a given era, a work endures not because of its subject, themes, political stance, or social aims but because of its language, its sheer invention, and its resistance to cliché--some irreducible quality that keeps readers coming back to its pages.\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1200\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2.18 x 10.35 x 6.87 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 12, 2014\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51756901728544,"sku":"9780674724730","price":39.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/1157767b6e5816e9b46463c1ca499c58.webp?v=1780088785","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/the-novel-a-biography-hardcover","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}