Summerized Henry James

Henry James' critical essay "The Art of Fiction" is about how writers face problems when creating fictional novels. How novels used to be seen as novels and that's it, not anymore or less (pg556: "a novel is a novel, as pudding is a pudding.) but now readers take everything they read to heart, unknowing whether it is true or not. James also come to contradict himself because he says that you should write about what you know (End of pg558) yet he is appalled when Anthony Trollope tells his readers that his characters and events are make beleive (pg556). He also relates literature and writers to artist and the creations they make, showing how the two have many similaraties on how the readers/viewers emotionally connect with their peices of work. Yet with artwork you know what it is, and you take it for that; whereas when people read novels they aren't always aware of the mistrust that authors may use, and the readers may be hurt without any knowledge. He goes on to address endings and how there are different views on what makes a good ending whether you're they type who likes the "happy ending" with marraige, babies, ect. Or if you're the type who beleives a good ending has that of a fufillment to it, knowing that even though it didn't work out in the end the character still defined who they were. He ends that section with the idea that fairy tale endings are endless but whats important is that a voice has come out in the ending. He touches on how quilckly characters are being produced and that there are more bad than good, that today it is easier to make a crappy character then take the time to evolve and produce one that can make an impact;beleiving that they must be realistic for the readers to relate to. It allows the readers to become apart of the novel, and really embrace the story that they are living through the characters. As we hit the next part of his essay he discusses the differences of the story which is believed to be the essence of the novel; the actual purpose of the novel. But there is more than just story to a novel, you need the mystery the details that make the story interesting; that allows you to become involved within the novel. He wraps it up with the obvious statement that a great novel depends on the mind that it is written from.