Books by James Wood

The selected essays of James Wood - our greatest living literary critic and author of How Fiction Works'James Wood is a close reader of genius...

Forster's Aspects of the Novel and Milan Kundera's The Art of the Novel, How Fiction Works is a study of the main elements of fiction, such as narrative, detail, characterization, dialogue, realism, and style.

Alan Querry, a successful property developer from the north of England, has two daughters: Vanessa, a philosopher who lives and teaches in Saratoga Springs, NY, and Helen, a record company executive based in London.

Upstate er en vidunderlig og rørende familieroman skrevet af The New Yorkers feterede anmelder James Wood. Fortællingen kredser om de komplicerede familierelationer, som kan opstå ved død og skilsmisse, om psykisk sygdom og om hvorfor nogen mennesker kæmper med livet, mens andre kun oplever lys og fremgang. Alan Querry, en succesfuld entreprenør fra Nordengland, har et kompliceret forhold til sine to voksne døtre, der udspringer af en bitter skilsmisse fra pigernes mor og af morens død et par år derefter. Vanessa er lektor i filosofi ved et universitet i upstate New York, og har kæmpet med psykiske problemer hele sit liv – Helen er chef hos Sony og bor i London med sin mand og to børn og har aldrig oplevet andet end fremgang i livet. En dag ringer Vanessas kæreste og beder Alan og Helen komme til USA for at besøge Vanessa, som er faldet ned af trappen og har brækket armen; men faldt hun ved et uheld … eller kastede hun sig ned af den? Alans døtre har haft det samme udgangspunkt i livet, men alligevel oplever de verden helt forskelligt. Helens liv drejer sig om musik, passion, kærlighed og oplevelser, mens Vanessa er i en konstant kamp med mørket, som forsøger at oversvømme hendes sind. Hvorfor er det sådan? Er det at være lykkelig noget, man kan lære, eller er det tilfældigt tildelt ved fødslen? Er tanker om livets indsigter nødvendige for glæden – eller er de netop en hindring for den? Hvorfor har nogen mennesker nemt ved livet, mens det for andre er en lang kamp mod det indsnævrende mørke?

Dreams of becoming a professional writer are abruptly put on hold for college student Nica Mitchell following the unexpected death of her mother and her father's cancer diagnosis. Forced to return home when he's hospitalized after encountering a near death experience, Nica learns that her father has been keeping a dark secret. Something in between the stages of life and death that, when revealed, will change her life forever.

Following The Broken Estate, The Irresponsible Self, and How Fiction Works - books that established James Wood as the leading critic of his generation - The Fun Stuff confirms Wood's pre-eminence, not only as a discerning judge but also as an appreciator of the contemporary novel.

Militia Myths traces the cultural history of the citizen soldier from 1896 to 1921, an ideal that lay at the foundation of how Canadians experienced and remember the First World War.

First published in 1795 and reissued here in its 1815 sixth edition, The Elements of Algebra by James Wood (1760-1839) was one of the standard Cambridge texts for decades, also accompanying Charles Darwin aboard the Beagle. It gives an interesting glimpse of the mathematical standards expected of undergraduates.

Originally produced for the Church of England in the sixteenth century by Thomas Cranmer, who was burned at the stake upon the accession to the throne of the ardently Catholic Queen Mary, it contains the entire liturgy as first presented in English-as well as some of the oldest phrases to be used by modern English speakers.

In a series of long essays, James Wood examines the connection between literature and religious belief, in a startlingly wide group of writers.

But when his father is suddenly taken ill Thomas returns home, to the tiny village in the north of England where his father still works as a parish priest. Thomas hopes that he may finally be able to communicate honestly with his father, a brilliant and formidable Christian example, and sort out his wayward life.

The common thread in Wood's latest collection of essays is what makes us laugh - and the book is an attempt to distinguish between the perhaps rather limited English comedy (as seen in Waugh, for example) and a 'continental' tragic-comedy, which he sees as real, universal and quixotic.