On Histories and Stories: Selected Essays

by A.S. Byatt

Book Overview

As writers of English from Australia to India to Sri Lanka command our attention, Salman Rushdie can state confidently that English fiction was moribund until the Empire wrote back, and few, even among the British, demur. A. S. Byatt does, and her case is persuasive. In a series of essays on the complicated relations between reading, writing, and remembering, the gifted novelist and critic sorts the modish from the merely interesting and the truly...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674008332
• ISBN13: 9780674008335
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

very insightful!

I thoroughly enjoyed this next to latest book by A.S. Byatt. I have loved many of her books. This one provided an American reader (moi) with insight into contemporary British writers that I didn't have before. It illuminated her shift (and others) away from the blockbuster Victorian novel toward the tale-the greatest story ever told, her last section, is not the topic you might suspect. If you're a Byatt lover, I would definitely check out this book. It's not long. An evening or two. And she's such good company. I even prefer this book to her earlier critical studies. This book is not a critical study but the fallout from a series of lectures. Check it out!