Lives of the Novelists: A History of Fiction in 294 Lives

No previous author has attempted a book such as this: a complete history of novels written in the English language, from the genre’s seventeenth-century origins to the present day. In the spirit of Dr. Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, acclaimed critic and scholar John Sutherland selects 294 writers whose works illustrate the best of every kind of fiction – from gothic, penny dreadful, and pornography to fantasy, romance, and high literature. Each author was chosen because his or her books are well worth reading and is likely to remain so for at least another century. Sutherland presents these authors in chronological order, in each case deftly combining a lively and informative biographical sketch with an opinionated assessment of the writer’s work. Taken together, these novelists provide both a history of the novel and a guide to its rich variety. An abbreviated list of novelists addressed: Daniel Defoe, Henry James, James Joyce, Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Woolf, Michael Crichton, Jeffrey Archer, and Jacqueline Susann. Index. 832p.