The art of fiction

« Fiche de lecture The Art of Fiction, Lodge Chapter 1 : Beginning (Jane Austen, Ford Madox Ford) The goal of the beginning of a novel : - Introduce the reader to the author's tone of voice, range of vocabulary, syntactic habits - Introduce the reader to basic infos : Characters' names, their relationships, contextual details about time and space - The reader needs to be "hooked", engrossed The beginning of Emma: - - A reverse triumph : Emma is a princess who must be humbled before she finds true happiness Three adjective which encapsulate the deceptiveness of Emma's content : "handsome" = masculine, desire to hold power, "clever" = ambiguous, could be pejorative, "rich" = moral danger of wealth. 21st year : taking responsibility, a rude awakening, getting married or not.

Emma is already the mistress of her household = vanity and arrogance. Governess = a mother figure but without the discipline, she gets married and it allows Emma to be even freer. Two voices at the same time : the narrator's and Emma's : Emma describes her relationship with her governess with self-satisfaction, the narrator clearly highlights Emma's main flaws : arrogance and pride. The beginning of The Good Soldier, Ford Madox - - "This is the saddest story I've ever heard." Secures the reader's attention. Anxiety, confusion : someone addresses the reader in English, yet claims to know nothing about English, he heard the story but he's part of it, he knows the characters intimately and not at all Tragic premonitory undertones. Other examples: - - The novel may begin with the description of a landscape or townscape = primary setting of the story, as in the sombre description in The return of the Native, Thomas Hardy The middle of a conversation, in medias res, as in A Handful of Dust, Evelyn's Waugh An arresting self-introduction by the narrator as in Moby Dick, Herman Melville ("Call me Ishmael) Address to the reader, autobiographies, as in The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger. Philosophical reflection : "the past is a foreign country", as in The Go-Between, Hartley. The character is in jeopardy in the very first sentence : "Hale knew they meant to murder him", Brighton Rock, Graham Greene.. »