Book review: The Novel - A Biography, by Michael Schmidt
Michael Schmidt's massive new book, The Novel: A Biography, covers nearly 700 years of prose and hundreds of writers. At 1,200 pages, it is much longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as long as War and Peace.
by Michael Schmidt
Harvard University Press
4 stars
Jim Higgins
Michael Schmidt's massive new book, The Novel: A Biography, covers nearly 700 years of prose and hundreds of writers. At 1,200 pages, it is much longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as long as War and Peace. Although it's not necessarily the last word on any given novel, as a resource, reference and stimulator, it's a bargain and a worthy addition to your home library.
While Schmidt has long been a professor in Britain, his approach is not academic. The Novel: A Biography is more readerly, a series of essays in which Schmidt first develops the history of the novel and then, reaching the modern era, tackles clusters of novelists grouped by affinities.
In the book's distinguishing feature, Schmidt taps the opinions of novelists about each other, rather than leaning on professional critics. The likes of Virginia Woolf, Ford Madox Ford and Jonathan Lethem offer insight and argument alongside Schmidt.
While Schmidt primarily discusses novels in English, he also makes room for writers in other languages, such as Leo Tolstoy and Franz Kafka, who had a powerful effect on fiction in English.
Schmidt draws his finish line about the year 2000. Given its density of ideas, I'd recommend reading 10 to 15 pages at a time spread over several months as I did. The book contains plenty of points of possible argument with its editor and his fellow commentators - and it offers many suggestions and much stimulation, the best reason to grapple with his gargantuan tome.