Product Description

Framed by a dramatic and moving account of Henry James’s last illness, Author! Author! begins in the early 1880s, describing James’s friendship with the genial Punch artist, George Du Maurier, and his intimate but problematic relationship with fellow American novelist Constance Fenimore Woolson. At the end of the decade Henry, worried by the failure of his books to sell, resolves to achieve fame and fortune as a playwright while Du Maurier diversifies into writing novels. The consequences that ensue mingle comedy, irony, pathos, and suspense. As Du Maurier’s novel Trilby becomes the bestseller of the century, Henry anxiously awaits the opening night of his make-or-break play, Guy Domville. This event, on January 5, 1895, and its complex sequel form the climax to Lodge’s absorbing novel. Thronged with vividly drawn characters, some of them with famous names, Author! Author! presents a fascinating panorama of literary and theatrical life in late Victorian England. But at its heart is a portrait, rendered with remarkable empathy, of a writer who never achieved popular success in his lifetime or resolved his sexual identity, yet wrote some of the greatest novels about love in the English language.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18351 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

AMAZON.CO.UK
Since the death of Malcom Bradbury, David Lodge remains unquestionably the finest comic novelist working in the English language – with fierce intelligence matching the sardonic wit. Author, Author is not quite a new departure (the great novelist Henry James was a presence in Lodge’s much-acclaimed Thinks…), but here The Master is the central character in a brilliantly vivid picture of the man and his times.

Those who find James’ own abstruse sentences too impenetrable for their taste may fear that Lodge is aiming for a recreation of James' allusive 19th century style, but that's definitely not the case. When Lodge has James speak, it is, of course, exactly as we would expect the famous chronicler of suppressed emotion to speak – anything else would be a failure (Peter Ackroyd carried off a similar act of ventriloquism in The Lat Testament of Oscar Wilde), but the style of the novel is very much Lodge's own: humorous, sensitive to all aspects of human behaviour, rich in authentically recreated period detail. Needless to say, the effect is nothing like that of Lodge’s contemporary novels such as the wonderfulNice Work and Small World; for some, that will be a cause for disappointment, but for readers prepared to follow Lodge on this journey into another century, the rewards are considerable.

Author, Author begins with the Great Man’s death, surrounded by worried servants (struggling to cope with his growing irrationality); then we are shown his remarkable life, including his friendship with the affable Punch illustrator George Du Maurier. The literary success and the American ex-pat James’ social lionising by the cream of London society are strikingly conveyed, as is the man’s sexual repression. The most powerful passages involve James’ disastrous failure as a playwright, and this section crowns Lodge’s achievement. Lodge fans may prefer his customary style, but there are riches here. --Barry Forshaw

About the Author
David Lodge is the author of eleven bestselling novels, a novella and numerous works of literary criticism, including Consciousness and the Novel. He also wrote two highly successful TV adaptations: his own novel NICE WORK and Dickens' MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. He taught for many years at the University of Birmingham, where he is now Honorary Prof of English. Though a south Londoner by upbringing, he continues to live in Birmingham. David Lodge’s novels include Changing Places, Small World, Nice Work, Therapy and, most recently, Thinks… He has also written numerous works of literary criticism, including Consciousness and the Novel, The Art of Fiction and The Practice of Writing, which are available in Penguin.

Customer Reviews

Interesting insight into gifted yet complex man.
Despite what felt to be a slow start, David Lodge provides a lively and interesting insight into an incredibly gifted yet complex man, the late Victorian writer Henry James.

By writing the story as "fiction", Lodge uses his great skill of capturing his characters essence without historical records clouding what is a man of great contrasts and depth. Some James purists may find this style offensive but that is not the intention of the author - he provides a more human insight to James than may otherwise have been achieved due to the subject's deeply personal nature and a lack of personal records.

Henry James was an incredibly skilled and accomplished author who was not greatly appreciated in his own time yet arguably was the father of the modern novel. Lodge deals sympathetically with James's perceived failure of his work, his intense craving for reward both adulatory and financial that always seemed within reach, be it in periodicals, books or the stage and that yet was always just out of reach or dashed by events outside his control. He also deals deftly with the issue of James' sexuality through his relationships with contemporaries, friends and past experiences - in particular his inability to reciprocate emotions and feelings to others, especially those closest to him.

Definitely worth buying if you have read and liked Lodge's earlier work.

Not missing a sentence
David Lodge's individual sentences are a tribute to Henry James - I reread any sentence that I feared I had missed in my haste to get to the next paragraph. The whole book is a pleasure - well structured, and such smooth flow. Apropriate for any Henry James admirer, or David Lodge admirer, and ideal for any dual admirer!

The personification of Henry James is a triumph!
The personification of revered author Henry James is a triumph for David Lodge. For many, James' novels are rather impenetrable; skilfull prose which is hard work! Taking us behind the writing, Lodge introduces us to an endearing and definitively Victorian character, in many ways more British than American. Rigidly confined by the social mores of the time and his own self-discipline, he nevertheless resolves into a surprisingly simple character, who inspires admiration, some pity and, occasionally, frustration. Lodge avoids the ploy of some historical novelists, who name drop famous characters in order to define the period and score credibility points; he slips in appearances by well-known James' acquaintances and historical events with consumate skill and a total lack of artifice. In particular, George Du Maurier is a delight. A very fine novel, and a revelation to those, like me, who knew nothing about the background of Henry James.