Fiction Factory: a review of James Wood's "How Fiction Works"

How Fiction Works by James Wood

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This interesting little book is useful to readers and writers alike. James Wood, considered by many as the best literary critic currently at work, proposes two things in it: to explain why realist literary fiction now rules the shelves, and how it works.

It's a slim volume - almost like Marcus Aurelius' Meditations - divided into sections such as "Metaphor" and "Character", with examples from the great, white old men of Western literature (plus a few women, like Virginia Woolf and Jane Austen) that emphasise Wood's point. His main theory is that something called the "free indirect style" is the best way for a writer to achieve a work that connects emotionally with the reader.

If you're someone familiar with experimental fiction, you might balk at some of his ideas, and he seems a bit dismissive of genre fiction. There's also a certain academic tone that might be off putting to some. But I think Wood's general passion for the subject, plus some great insight into why literary fiction is where it is at the moment, makes this a great read. It probably improves on second and third readings, too.

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