The Art of Telling: Essays on Fiction (Center for International Affairs)
The Art of Tellingis a brilliant and well-articulated presentation of Kermode's argument about how to read a narrative... There can he no doubt that he is one of our best critics (J. Hillis Miller)The middle ground of serious criticism has so far found its clearest, most wide-ranging advocate in Kermode; and his new book...is an important one - ecumenical, level acute. (Kirkus Reviews)It is a matter of some moment when a distinguished and dispassionate critic such asFrank Kermode ... offers what he calls a 'recuperative' response to contemporary literary criticism ...Through a careful analysis of authors ranging from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to Joseph Conrad and writers of detective fiction, he demonstrates in this book what can be gained, and what discarded, from all the fury of contemporary criticism ... Here is a badly needed voice of reason. (Los Angeles Times Book Review)