The Art of Fiction (essay about his work and theory)
E50906
The Art of Fiction is Henry James’s influential critical essay in which he articulates his views on the nature, purpose, and artistic possibilities of the novel.
Aliases (1)
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
literary essay
→
work of literary criticism → |
| advocates |
artistic freedom for the novelist
→
the novel as a serious art form → use of personal experience in fiction → |
| author |
Henry James
→
|
| authorNationality |
American
→
|
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
→
|
| critiques |
narrow definitions of realism
→
rigid critical rules for novels → |
| describes |
fiction as a direct impression of life
→
the novel as a living, flexible form → |
| focusesOn |
the craft of fiction
→
the novelist’s point of view → the relation between form and content in the novel → the role of the reader’s experience → |
| genre |
essay
→
literary criticism → |
| hasPart |
critique of prescriptive rules for fiction
→
discussion of experience as material for fiction → discussion of form and structure in the novel → discussion of point of view in fiction → discussion of the novelist’s freedom → |
| hasReception |
considered a foundational text in narrative theory
→
regarded as a classic statement of James’s narrative theory → widely studied in literary studies → |
| influenced |
20th-century novelists
→
Anglo-American literary criticism → modern narrative theory → |
| influencedBy |
European novelistic tradition
→
French realism → |
| language |
English
→
|
| literaryPeriod |
19th-century literature
→
|
| mainSubject |
aesthetics of fiction
→
fiction writing → the novel → |
| movement |
literary modernism precursor
→
realism → |
| opposes |
mechanical plot formulas
→
rigid moral didacticism in fiction → |
| publicationType |
periodical essay
→
|
| relatedWork |
Henry James’s novels
→
Prefaces to the New York Edition → |
| states |
that quality of execution is more important than subject matter
→
that the novel should represent life as it is → that the novelist must be free to choose any subject → that there are no prescriptions for what a novel must be about → |
| theorizes |
the importance of selection in representation
→
the role of consciousness in fiction → |
Referenced by (1)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Henry James
→
|
subjectOf |