Stranger than Fiction: Lives of the 20th Century Novel (2024) by Edwin Frank

 Book Review

Stranger Than Fiction: 

Lives of the 20th Century Novel (2024)

by Edwin Frank

   There was probably no one on EARTH more excited about the prospect of reading Stranger Than Fiction: Lives of the 20th Century Novel:  A book pitched at a general reader offering a meandering stroll through some subjective highlights from the 20th century literary canon? Yes please!   Because I was so excited, someone considering reading this book shouldn't be put off by the fact that I ultimately felt disappointed by Stranger Than Fiction.  I certainly appreciated the premise, and enjoyed certain chapters, but on the whole I finished without having added significantly to my thoughts about the 20th century novel. 

   Or maybe it's more the case that the blog format doesn't allow me to do this book justice.  I think to really appreciate Stranger Than Fiction I would have to buy a copy (I checked out the e-book from the library) and really mark it up, make marginal notations, etc.  Then I would need someone to talk about this book with, someone who has read as much as the author.  

   One of the things I did think about after reading was Frank's idea that the 20th century novel was in conversation with itself from the very beginning.  His best illustration of this was the dialogue that publisher/critic/author Virginia Woolf had with James Joyce and Ulysses, a book she did not like.  Here we are, right in the center of the genesis/apogee of the 20th century novel and one major author hates the work of another major author.