“Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost!”— Henry James’ Solution to the Novel Problem
When, in his 1884 essay ‘The Art of Fiction’, American novelist Henry James proposed his memorable mantra ‘Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost’, he was writing at a pivotal time for the novel form. Two centuries earlier, Enlightenment thinkers such as Descartes and John Locke had turned their backs on rigid, pre-established traditions of thought to instead ‘Look at the facts and think for […]
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