Beyond Egotism

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Here is a comprehensive critique of the major work of three masters of the modern novel. It provides both concepts and examples for a coherent theory of Modernist fiction. Robert Kiely takes three writers generally thought to be very different and shows, by analysis of narrative strategies and structures, how they share a quest for a morally balanced perception of life. Joyce, Woolf, and Lawrence have often been accused (and accused one another) of authorial egotism and arrogance. Exploring their treatment of fundamental relationships—artist and nature, mother and child, marriage, friendship, and actor and audience—Kiely finds in all three writers a reaching beyond the individual toward a definition of the value of human interdependence. This very readable book will well serve everyone interested in the modern novel.