David Lodge

La crítica literaria determina, en ocasiones, nuestra forma de leer, la manera de acercarnos a los libros. Marcada por las condiciones materiales, culturales, por el paradigma correspondiente, por su tiempo, ejerce una influencia notable entre los lectores. De la misma forma que no leemos igual una obra siendo jovenes o mayores, antes o despues de una guerra, enamorados o recien separados, tampoco la critica literaria es indiferente a su situacion, a su ser en el mundo. Citemos, con discrecion, a Marx: Las ideas de la clase dominante son las ideas dominantes en cada epoca; o, dicho en otros terminos, la clase que ejerce el poder material dominante en la sociedad es, al mismo tiempo, su poder espiritual dominante. Publicado en 1992, David Lodge escribio un libro imprescindible, un texto basico para todos aquellos que deseen conocer los mecanismos internos, la tramoya, de la ficcion literaria.

Una obra essencial per a comprendre el funcionament de la literatura.L’art de la ficció és una anàlisi dels aspectes principals de l’art de narrar. Partint de novel·les de la literatura universal, ta

In 2004, Henry James featured as a character in no less than three novels - David Lodge''s Author, Author was one of them.With insightful and amusing candour, here he traces the history of his book from conception to publication, pondering the mystery - and indeed the anguish - of so many novels about James appearing at the same time.Lodge''s reflections on his own creative practice are accompanied by studies of the genesis, composition and reception of key works by James himself, as well as other novelists from George Eliot to Vladimir Nabokov, and J.M. Coetzee to Graham Greene.

A collection of essays on writers and writing by the Booker-shortlisted novelist and critic.Writing about real lives takes various forms, which overlap and may be combined with each other: biography, autobiography, biographical criticism, biographical fiction, memoir, confession, diary.In these thoughtful and enlightening essays David Lodge considers some particularly interesting examples of life-writing, and contributes several of his own. The subjects include celebrated modern British writers such as Graham Greene, Kingsley Amis, Muriel Spark and Alan Bennett, and two major figures from the past, Anthony Trollope and H.G.Wells. Lodge examines connections between the style and the man in the diaries of the playwright Simon Gray and the cultural criticism of Terry Eagleton, and recalls how his own literary career was entwined with that of his friend Malcolm Bradbury.All except one of the subjects (Princess Diana) are or were themselves professionally "in writing", making this collection a kind of casebook of the splendours and miseries of authorship. In a final essay Lodge describes the genesis and compositional method of his recent novel about H.G.Wells, A Man of Parts, and engages with the critical controversies that have been provoked by the increasing popularity of narrative and dramatic writing that combines fact and fiction.Drawing on David Lodge''s long experience as a novelist and critic, Lives in Writing is a fascinating study of the interface between life and literature.

El arte de la ficción es un estudio ameno y fácil de leer que da cuenta de cómo se escriben las novelas, cómo son los diferentes estilos, qué es el realismo, cómo se configuran los narradores cómo se hacen los personajes, etc. Libro muy recomendado en universidadesy academias, talleres literarios y demas escuelas de aprendizaje, Lodge logro un libro inteligente y al alcance de todos aquellos que han sentido alguna vez la llamada de la escritura.

Encerrado en su casa de Regent’s Park, en pleno blitz, el escritor Herbert George Wells, «H. G.» para los amigos, intuye que se está muriendo. Una vez fue el novelista más famoso del mundo, «el hombr

"Desmond Bates e un professore in pensione. Vedovo, si e risposato con Winifred Holt, una sua ex allieva, molto piu giovane, che mentre lui si e ritirato a vita privata a causa della sua sordita (diventava impossibile o imbarazzante partecipare a conferenze, lezioni, seminari ecc.), ha messo in piedi, con successo, insieme a un''amica, una galleria d''arte e design. La cosa provoca in Desmond qualche risentimento, perche la moglie guadagna piu di lui. Ma soprattutto Desmond a causa della sua sordita accumula figure ridicole e imbarazzanti in societa, come quando, a una vernissage nella galleria della moglie, conosce Alex, una giovane studentessa, e, senza sentire esattamente cosa lei gli chiede, le promette aiuto, ritrovandosi poi in situazioni sempre piu intricate. Ma nonostante fatiche e figuracce il professore non si da per vinto e combatte senza segni di cedimento. "

"Sono sei brevi racconti: ""Dove arde il solleone"", un''altalena sentimentale un po retro tra due giovani coppie in vacanza, circa quarant''anni fa, a Ibiza; ""Il mio primo lavoro"", l''apprendistato ad una stazione ferroviaria di un giovane venditore di giornali, che scopre le regole del mondo dei ""grandi"" e perde la sua innocenza; ""Camera con vista sulla piscina"", nella piscina di un hotel della Costa Azzurra, le schermaglie amorose fra un uomo e la moglie gelosa; ""L''uomo che non voleva alzarsi"", un uomo rifiuta di alzarsi dal letto; ""L''avaro"" i sogni a occhi aperti di tre bambini del dopoguerra; ""Pastorale"", la cronaca di una recita parrocchiale organizzata da un ragazzo per poter star vicino alla ragazza che ama. "

In 2004 three major novels featuring Henry James as a character were published one of them went on to win the Booker Prize. It was not David Lodge's AUTHOR AUTHOR. In this fascinating new book, a kind of postscript to his novel, Lodge traces the conception, writing and publication of his book, and reveals with extraordinary candour and revealingly comic moments the poignancy and indeed anguish of discovering too late that others were working on the same subject, and the odd feelings of rivalry and jealousy that this engendered. The result is a wonderfully comic work with serious psychological and literary insights which suggestsnothing less than a short story by the Great Master, James, himself.

Funny and moving by turns, Deaf Sentence is a witty, original and absorbing account of one man''s effort to come to terms with deafness, ageing and mortality, and the comedy and tragedy of human lives. When the university merged his Department of English with Linguistics, Professor Desmond Bates took early retirement, but he is not enjoying it. He misses the routine of the academic year and has lost his appetite for research. His wife Winifred''s late-flowering career goes from strength to strength, reducing his role to that of escort, while the rejuvenation of her appearance makes him uneasily conscious of the age gap between them. The monotony of his days is relieved only by wearisome journeys to London to check on his aged father who stubbornly refuses to leave the house he is patently unable to live in with safety. But these discontents are nothing compared to the affliction of hearing loss -- a constant source of domestic friction and social embarrassment, leading Desmond into mistakes, misunderstandings and follies. It might be comic for others, but for the deaf person himself, it is no joke. It is his deafness which inadvertently involves Desmond with a young woman whose wayward behaviour threatens to destabilize his life completely.

Back in Rummidge, scene of Changing Places, Robyn Penrose, temporary lecturer in English literature and Vic Willcox, MD of Pringle and Sons Industrial Engineering meet when they take part in an "Indu

The first collection of short stories from one of Britain''s finest novelists and critics.A nameless man, who has fallen out of love with life, refuses to get out of bed, with unexpected consequences. A sociologist recalls how he learned his first and formative lesson about the oppressive power of capitalism selling newspapers and magazines up and down the platforms of Waterloo station. Some years before the era of the Pill and the Permissive Society, four university friends travel to the Mediterranean for their first holiday together, where the climate is sultry and sex is on everyones mind. And a strong-willed young woman defies adverse circumstances to pursue the perfect wedding at all costs.These are some of the characters that populate David Lodges shrewd, funny and delightfully entertaining short stories, collected here for the very first time. What prompted their publication in this form is a short story in itself, told by the author in his Foreword.