Language of Fiction

'Perhaps because he is a good novelist himself, Mr Lodge's subjection of various writers to detailed linguistic analysis is illuminating and exciting.' - Daily Telegraph 'Something of a milestone in English criticism. an important addition to English critical writing about the genre of the novel' - Tony Tanner, The Modern Language Review

• PART I The Novelist's Medium and the Novelist's Art: Problems in Criticism, Introductory Modern Criticism and Literary Language Poetry and Prose F. W. Bateson: Ideas and Logic Christopher Caudwell: The Current of Mock Reality The Argument from Translation Proust and Scott Moncrieff Compared Translation: Poetry and Prose The Argument from Bad Writing The Modern Movement in Fiction: A Digression Summary of Arguments J. M. Cameron: These Words in this Order Language and Fictional Illusion F. W. Bateson and B. Shakevitch: Particularity Conclusions to Section 1, Stylistics Style and Modern Linguistics M. Riffaterre: Scientific Stylistics J. Warburg: Appropriate Choice F. R. Leavis and the Moral Dimension of Fiction, PART II Introductory 1 The Vocabulary of 'Mansfield Park' 2 Fire and Eyre: Charlotte Bronte's War of Earthly Elements 3 The Rhetoric of 'Hard Times' 4 Tess, Nature, and the Voices of Hardy 5 Strether by the River 6 'Tono-Bungay' and the Condition of England 7 The Modern, The Contemporary, and the Importance of being Amis.