The Writing of Fiction

by Edith Wharton

Book Overview

A rare work of nonfiction from Edith Wharton, The Writing of Fiction contains timeless advice on writing and reading well from the first woman ever to win a Pulitzer Prize--now with a new introduction by Brandon Taylor.

In 1921, Edith Wharton won a Pulitzer Prize for her first novel, The Age of Innocence. Over the course of her career, she would continue to produce beloved, bestselling work--from The House of Mirth to...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684845318
• ISBN13: 9780684845319
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

a classic writing guide

This classic guide to the art of writing is as thought-provoking now as it must have been upon publication in 1924. In erudite prose, Edith Wharton describes the general aspects of fiction, going far beyond the surface to touch deep veins often unseen by casual readers. Using examples from the classics, she analyzes the methods of telling a short story and constructing a novel. She contrasts novels of character, such as Emma, with novels of situation, such as The Scarlet Letter, and discusses novels that weld the two types. The last chapter of the book analyzes the works of the great French author, Marcel Proust. By studying this book and the works it refers to, one may perhaps develop the ability, demonstrated by Proust, "to reveal, by a single allusion, a word, an image, those depths of soul beyond the soul's own guessing."