His preface to the first edition acknowledges the influence of I. A. Richards
—with whom, however, he also says he disagrees in principle. Richards had been his undergraduate supervisor, and tradition (only slightly exaggerated, says...
Literary responses
Christine Brooke-Rose
Though she had already published a novel, CBR
said it was this book that first launched her on the literary scene, since it drew critical attention including a top article in the Sunday Times by...
Literary responses
Christine Brooke-Rose
Mark Rose
calls this collection a difficult, and somewhat miscellaneous book,
Rose, Mark. “Review of A Rhetoric of the Unreal: Studies in Narrative and Structure, Especially of the Fantastic by Christine Brooke-Rose”. Comparative Literature, Vol.
36
, No. 3, 1 Mar.–31 May 1984, pp. 169-71.
169
but finds that CBR
is at her best when analyzing and revising writers' conceptions.
Rose, Mark. “Review of A Rhetoric of the Unreal: Studies in Narrative and Structure, Especially of the Fantastic by Christine Brooke-Rose”. Comparative Literature, Vol.
36
, No. 3, 1 Mar.–31 May 1984, pp. 169-71.
171
Frank Kermode
notes that its expository mode [is]...
Birch, Sarah. Christine Brooke-Rose and Contemporary Fiction. Clarendon Press, 1994.
228
Her own summary of her career, however, was that she tried...
Literary responses
Muriel Spark
In 2007 Frank Kermode
used this novel as a test case for examining the flattening out process which necessarily accompanies the adaptation of a novel as play or film. This short and relatively slight novel...
Literary responses
Muriel Spark
Publication evoked a chorus of praise Frank Kermode
, finding this a little miracle of a book, was not untypical.
Stannard, Martin. Muriel Spark. The Biography. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2009.
298
More recently and less sympathetically, Margaret Moan Rowe
saw the social satire and spiritual...
Literary responses
Muriel Spark
Frank Kermode
, reviewing this novel in The Listener, commented that the great pleasures offered by this writer are contingent upon our being willing to work harder than usual.
Reviews in the USA were mostly bad, though Anita Brookner
published there a detailed, admiring analysis.
Stannard, Martin. Muriel Spark. The Biography. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2009.
465-6
Gabriel Josipovici
, reviewing this novel in the Times Literary Supplement, called MSthe best English novelist...
Literary responses
Muriel Spark
Spark was horrified when Derek Stanford
, her former friend and collaborator, published a book about her in September 1963: Muriel Spark, a Biographical and Critical Study, which she later called packed with factual...
Literary responses
Zadie Smith
This book won the Orange Prize for Fiction (after ZS
had twice appeared on its shortlist) and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
“Tears, tiffs and triumphs”. Guardian Unlimited, 6 Sept. 2008.
Reception
Emily Brontë
Wuthering Heights has continued to compel critical attention. In The Classic, 1975, Frank Kermode
devoted extended analysis to the cryptic language patterns in the novel's opening, because, he wrote, it was vital to re-interpret...
Textual Production
William Empson
WE
published The Structure of Complex Words, a book of criticism which Frank Kermode
calls his magnum opus.
Kermode, Frank. “The Savage Life”. London Review of Books, 19 May 2005, pp. 3-5.
5
Timeline
22 April 1969: The Booker Prize for the year's best novel...
Writing climate item
22 April 1969
The Booker Prize for the year's best novel was awarded for the first time. The winner was P. H. Newby
with Something to Answer For; the judges were chaired by Frank Kermode
, and...
Texts
Kermode, Frank. “A Hammer in His Hands”. London Review of Books, pp. 10-11.
Kermode, Frank. “Fiction and E. M. Forster”. London Review of Books, pp. 15-24.
Kermode, Frank. “Flinch Wince Jerk Shirk”. London Review of Books.
Kermode, Frank. “Here she is”. London Review of Books, pp. 13-14.
Kermode, Frank. “Muriel Spark’s House of Fiction”. Critical Essays on Muriel Spark, edited by Joseph Hynes, G. K. Hall and Maxwell Macmillan, 1992, pp. 29-32.
Kermode, Frank. “Playing the Seraphine”. London Review of Books, p. 15.
Kermode, Frank. “Sly Digs”. London Review of Books, Vol.
30
, No. 18, pp. 34-5.
Kermode, Frank. The Classic. 1983.
Morrish, Hilary et al. The Poet Speaks: Interviews with Contemporary Poets. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966.
Kermode, Frank. “The Savage Life”. London Review of Books, pp. 3-5.
Kermode, Frank. “To Kill All Day”. London Review of Books, pp. 21-2.
Kermode, Frank. “Zounds”. London Review of Books, pp. 19-20.