Search

A study attempts to clarify the relationship between literary criticism and truth in fiction through the use of a schema that is compatible with David Lewis's theory on truth and falsity in a work of fiction. Peter Lamarque's criticism that Lewis's theory does not take into account the interpretive element that is required to understand fiction is also addressed.

Three theories, actual intentionalism, hypothetical intentionalism and the value-maximizing theory are discussed regarding the interpretations of fictional literature. An argument is presented that hypothetical intentionalism either reduces to the value-maximizing theory or it mistakenly attributes to hypothesized intentions the kind of force that attaches only to actual intentions.

In 1885 the Congo Free State was established by King Leopold of Belgium, with himself as absolute monarch and principal stockholder of the company that would exploit the territory's extraordinary [...]

This article discusses the manner in which politics, science, and biography were portrayed in the fiction of C.P. Snow. Topics include imagery, communism, and academia.

Bernhard Schlink's novel The Reader begins as a coming-of-age story, an education sentimentale. ELEANOR WACHTEL: BERNHARD SCHLINK: Being read to makes literature even more of a gift. A German radio [...]

There is a sense of ambiguity connected to a consideration of a work of fiction as being or not being philosophical. This vagueness pertains to the various definitions attached to the word 'philosophical' and the variation in ideas regarding that which counts as a philosophical work, position or thought. Therefore it would be beneficial to develop one specific view of how works of fiction can be philosophical.

ELEANOR WACHTEL hosts CBC Radio's weekly literary program Writers & Company on Sunday afternoons. Two selections of her interviews, Writers & Company and More Writers & Company, have been published [...]

Saul Bellow veers toward a schematic allegorization that renders inefficient the social and psychological realism necessary for his art's success. Bellow, who is concerned about being misconstrued as an un-American speculative intellectual after attacks were launched against him, should open his novels to the potential fragmentation of essayism. Readers and critics can better dissect Bellow's novels for the inspirational motivations behind the genius if his writings are devoid of 'mind-numbing labels' and 'coercive certainties' that the characters impose on everybody.

Novelist Saul Bellow is perceived as a captain of intellect whose writings bring to mind major writers such as Kafka, Wilhelm Reich, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and Rousseau. Bellow defines intellectual captains as individuals who communicate with their contemporaries while being able and willing to articulate on nearly any subject matter. An intellectual captain, who may even appear to know more than he is actually entitled to, never fails to amuse while telling what he knows.

Saul Bellow's literary influence from Spanish prose fiction is evident in his quixotic novel 'The Adventures of Augie March.' He agrees that the best novelists in the US who are seeking sources of inspiration turn to 19th-century writings such as those from France and Russia. Spanish literature is the product of medieval European traditions; Judaic and Arabic culture; the Inquisition; the Moorish-Arabic-Berber influence; and the Catholic, Moslem and Jewish religions.

Saul Bellow's 'Mr. Sammler's Planet' depicts its central character Artur Sammler as the intellectual's hero who is alienated by everything he sees. The novel, which revolves around a man's spiritual journey that regresses seven centuries, is about 'making peace with intermediacy and representation.' Mr. Sammler, though deeply flawed and contemptuous, admits that imitation is inevitable and imitating good things is necessary in life.

Saul Bellow's novella titled 'Seize the Day' alludes to other great books such as Job and Ecclesiastes in the Bible and those by Milton, Tolstoy and Emerson. The story, which is set in a New York City summer in the 1950s, captures the sadness of failed relationships between fathers and sons. Tommy Wilhelm wallows in self-pity and asks financial assistance from his father Dr. Adler at a time when his life was virtually all messed up. After being humiliated by his father, he finds himself in a funeral chapel where he cries over a dead stranger in comic irony.

A writer perceives Saul Bellow's 'Humboldt's Gift' and its depictions of New York as a gift that provides topics for writing. 'Humboldt's Gift' is best remembered for the conversations between Humboldt and Charlie Citrine. Charlie, who pays tribute to Humboldt and their post-war world in the book's entirety, also tries to purge Humboldt and Humboldt's world from his system to achieve 'metaphysical stability' through anthroposophy. His recollections of Humboldt is an animating combination of love, anger and grief.

The postulation of the presence of an omniscient narrator in third-person fiction is unnecessary and the reasons advanced for postulating such a narrator are irrational. Third-person narratives are not a form of fiction with an internal narrator, and are easier to construct than authorial fiction. The characters, not the narrator, communicate with the reader in third-person fiction.

Works of fiction have both invented names such as 'Sherlock Holmes' and proper names such as 'London,' though the use of an invented name with a proper name in a sentence does not make that sentence meaningless. Though fictional works do not have standard proposition they have general proposition.

Review of the latest works of novelists Milan Kundera and his latest book 'Immortality,' Ivan Klima's 'Love and Garbage,' Shashi Tharoor's 'The Great Indian Novel,' Buchi Emecheta's 'The Family,' William Boyd's 'Brazzaville Beach,' Barry Callaghan's 'The Way the Angel Spread Her Wings,' Don DeLillo's 'Mao II,' M.S. Power's 'Crucible of Fools,' and MacDonald Harris' 'Glad Rags.'

Steven Millhauser's fiction has been influenced by the work of Jorge Luis Borges and Franz Kafka. Millhauser excels in parodies of the contemporary realistic narration in fiction in which he incorporates his own fictional minimalism. Like Borge, Millhauser uses the rhetorical gravity of the narrative to reflect the burden of the theme. Like Kafka, Millhauser's characters condemn themselves to a precarious crest of relation that resolves itself into hellish betrayals.

Saul Bellow's 'Henderson, the Rain King' was inspired by an American engineer named Slocum who designed India's Bhakra Dam. 'Henderson, the Rain King' is about a big white man named Henderson who travels to Africa to find out what it is that he really wants. There he meets Willatale, the Woman of Bittahness, who believes that his spirit of destruction is with him when he wants to do good. The novel is filled with vivid descriptions that come to life.

The essay examines narration and other literary techniques used by James Joyce in 'Ulysses,' and focuses on why the work is worth the difficulties posed by the text. It is posited that Joyce's compassionate view of humanity expressed in 'Ulysses' surpasses criticisms of it.

Robert Hazel fictional work is analyzed and critically presented. It is stated that his less successful fiction work reminds people of the dazzling, descriptive detail and heartbreaking images that make the poetry of Robert soar.

A study of writer Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie is presented with emphasis on the qualities that have helped it survive for over a hundred years. Dreiser was still young and his style was not very elegant, but his work unlike others more qualified has lasted.

A batch of recent fiction by young writers contains narcissistic overtones that criticize the works of their older contemporaries. These books depict the somewhat selfish characteristics of the younger generation of novelists. Some of these recent works include 'Preston Falls' by David Gates, 'This Time Last Year' by Douglas Hobbie and ' The Last Resort' by Alison Lurie.