The Art of Fiction A Guide for Writers and Readers

by Rand, Ayn

• ISBN13: 9780452281547
• ISBN10: 0452281547
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: Plume

Summary

In 1958, by popular demand, Ayn Rand gave an informal course on the art of fiction to a group of friends and acquaintances. Using only a few handwritten notes over the course of 12 sessions, the legendary author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged covered all the essentials of writing and reading fiction. Now, for the first time, the edited transcripts of these remarkable sessions are available to aspiring writers and readers. Rand discusses how a writer combines abstract ideas with concrete action and description to achieve a unity of theme, plot, characterisation and style - the 4 essential elements of fiction. She explains why all works of fiction express a specific code of values, and provides fascinating rules for building dramatic plots and characters with depth. Here, too, are Rand's illuminating sentence-by-sentence analyses of passages from writers like Victor Hugo and Thomas Wolfe. Concise and accessible, this is an invaluable gift from one of our most enduring authors and an indispensable resource for all lovers of literature.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Leonard Peikoff
Editor's Preface	xi
Writing and the Subconscious	1	(8)
Literature as an Art Form	9	(6)
Theme and Plot	15	(16)
The Plot-Theme	31	(14)
The Climax	45	(6)
How to Develop a Plot Ability	51	(8)
Concretize Your Abstractions	52	(4)
Think in Terms of Conflict	56	(2)
Tap Your Emotions	58	(1)
Characterization	59	(30)
Style I: Depictions of Love	89	(34)
From Atlas Shrugged	93	(5)
Ayn Rand
From Notre-Dame de Paris	98	(7)
Victor Hugo
From Of Time and the River	105	(7)
Thomas Wolfe
From Arrowsmith	112	(2)
Sinclair Lewis
From Star Money	114	(2)
Kathleen Winsor
From By Love Possessed	116	(7)
James Gould Cozzens
Style II: Descriptions of Nature and of New York	123	(22)
From Atlas Shrugged	123	(2)
Ayn Rand
From Seven Gothic Tales	125	(2)
Isak Dinesen
From The Fountainhead	127	(1)
Ayn Rand
From Atlas Shrugged	128	(4)
Ayn Rand
From One Lonely Night	132	(2)
Mickey Spillane
From The Web and the Rock	134	(4)
Thomas Wolfe
Naturalistic Description	138	(1)
Analysis of ``A Letter on Style''	138	(7)
Sinclair Lewis
Particular Issues of Style	145	(20)
Narrative versus Dramatization	145	(3)
Exposition	148	(2)
Flashbacks	150	(2)
Transitions	152	(2)
Metaphors	154	(2)
Descriptions	156	(1)
Dialogue	157	(1)
Slang	158	(2)
Obscenities	160	(1)
Foreign Words	161	(1)
Journalistic References	162	(3)
Special Forms of Literature	165	(12)
Humor	165	(4)
Fantasy	169	(3)
Symbolism	172	(2)
Tragedy and the Projection of Negatives	174	(3)
Index	177