alobear | The Year of Henry James review

I hadn't come across David Lodge before reading his Year of Henry James. I understand he is best known for the kind of comic novels I would be unlikely to find funny, but this book shows him to be a man of many talents. The titular section has an interesting premise - it's a retrospective account of the period in which he wrote and published his novel Author, Author, which has Henry James as its main character. Unfortunately for Lodge, there was a plethora of other novels about Henry James (or referencing Henry James in some way) published around the same time. Two of those (both published before Author, Author) were The Master by Colm Toibin and The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst, both of which were shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2004 (Hollinghust won). Lodge is of the opinion that his unlucky timing had an adverse effect on the critical reception and initial sales of his novel, but he tells the tale with self-deprecating wit and an entertaining tone, turning a rather difficult period of his life into a fascinating and highly enjoyable story.

I assume writing this account was cathartic, but it had the added bonus for Lodge of making me really want to read Author, Author - and I can't imagine such a result was completely absent from his mind on deciding to publish The Year of Henry James. I can't blame him for such a motive, and Author, Author will be part of my next Amazon order. I have no desire to read Lodge's comic novels, but his "fictional biographies" (if that is what they should be called) are very appealing - his latest release takes as its subject H G Wells, and will be added to my wishlist when it comes out in paperback.

The second half of the book contains a selection of Lodge's literary criticism, which is also extremely well written and very interesting, even when discussing books and authors with which I am entirely unfamiliar. His discussion of his own writing made me want to write, and his discussion of other people's reminded me how much I enjoyed studying literature at university.

So, this was a very successful return to non-fiction reading for me - I really must read more about writing (to help motivate me to do some myself) and more about literature (to rekindle my academic interests).