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The goal of this page is to introduce
students, and anyone else interested, to a
variety of writers. Every couple of months I
highlight an author on my front page. I
maintain the archives here. I hope to have some
balance between fiction and nonfiction,
political and nonpolitical, living and
deceased, famous and somewhat less
well-known (but deserving of attention).
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As I write this, I
know that many of my students—especially
the non-English majors—are
never going to read anything by Henry
James unless it’s assigned for a class.
James isn’t for those looking for a
quick read. The sheer weight of his
sentences, their serpentine wrapping
around endless commas, the slow, seeming
inaction of his plots, all give the
impression to impatient surface readers
that it’s too much work with too little
reward. I have to admit that I need to
be in a certain mood to read him—particularly
for the long novels. I also must avoid
distractions and have a good block of
time available to me, and be well-rested
and fueled by a healthy combination of
caffeine and sugar. Students should not
be put off by these disclaimers, though,
because Henry James is great. His
shorter pieces are not so much work
after all, and once a reader adapts to
his style, the rewards of his rich,
subtle sentences and deep examination of
character and society become clear. I
always felt that I was learning to write
when I read his work, which is maybe why
I now only read him when I can afford to
pay the proper attention—there’s
too much to gain to dash through it. I
like the short stories "The Real Thing"
and "Greville Fane"—while
my own style and tone are as far from
James as can be, his prose is at times
surprisingly funny, though certainly not
in a punch-line way. His serious novella
"The Beast in the Jungle" was a direct
influence on the theme of my first
novel, and aside from that remains one
of my favorite pieces written by anyone—haunting.
I remember devouring The Princess
Casamassima in a couple of days in
graduate school, the plot details now
escaping me but the sense remaining
these years later that I learned so much
about writing in the reading. The
Portrait of a Lady, with its quiet,
dark turn at the end, offers more drama
than a million gimmicky plot twists, and
stays with you. |
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Novelist Graham
Greene obliterates the distinction
between “literary fiction” and
“entertainment.” Some serious, literary
authors trade in obscurity and
pretension that almost no one wants to
read and few enjoy. Some popular authors
get readers to buy books and turn pages,
providing a diversion, but have nothing
to say and leave no impression. Ignore
these literary bores and popular hacks
and read something by Graham Greene, who
wrote page-turner after page-turner,
creating intensely dramatic situations
and memorable characters and shining
light on human nature and society as
only he could. No writer builds such
tension in his quiet way, in so little
space, the narrative always seeming to
take the reader by surprise with its
power. His short stories are very
strong, but the novels are what make
Greene a major author. They’re probably
all exceptional, but I’ll suggest A
Burnt-Out Case, Brighton Rock,
and The Quiet American. |
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In a nation awash in
punditry, Jacob Sullum’s work—including
two books and numerous articles—stands
out for its clarity, rigor, and
integrity. A senior editor for Reason
magazine, Sullum’s syndicated column
never degenerates into the partisan
hackery that characterizes the op-ed
form as practiced by lesser (though
often more famous) writers. Students of
persuasive writing would do well to
study the seemingly effortless
incorporation of data and the agile
connection of facts that lead the reader
to his conclusions. Even when Sullum
points to slippery slope implications of
a position or policy he’s critiquing, he
avoids the sort of exaggeration that
would allow readers to dismiss him. In
his books, this skill is on full
display. For Your Own Good: The
Anti-Smoking Crusade and the Tyranny of
Public Health manages to include
much evidence damning the tobacco
industry while still leaving readers to
conclude that the claims made and the
public policy advocated by the
anti-smoking movement are misguided, at
best, and dangerous in their
implications for the future of freedom,
at worst. The meticulously researched
Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use
is a much-needed challenge to Drug War
hysteria and misinformation. |
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For the first entry, we have one of the greats. Maybe it should be Greats. Or GREATS. Fyodor Dostoevsky is about as good as it gets in fiction. I would start with a couple of the short works, novellas really: “Notes from Underground” and “The Gambler.” His first novel,
Poor Folk, is also a good early choice for those working up to the long, famous novels. Then,
Crime and Punishment is the great novel you need to read. Of course, this is Dostoevsky we’re talking about, so they’re pretty much all
considered great. And I don’t mean great as in, “That was a great sandwich.” Someone once said (or at least I remember hearing or thinking) that while it could be argued that
Crime and Punishment is the greatest novel ever written, there is disagreement over whether it is even Dostoevsky’s best.
But it’s my favorite. |
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Copyright ©
by Scott Stein 2005-2006. All rights
reserved.
Any opinions expressed on this site are
those of Scott Stein and should
not be construed to represent the
view of Drexel University or any Drexel
department.
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