Peter Brooks is the author of numerous books exploring themes such as Henry James Goes to Paris, Realist Vision, and Troubling Confessions. His work delves deeply into narrative structures and psychological motivations, examining how stories shape our understanding of reality and ourselves. Brooks focuses on the melodramatic imagination and the ways literature engages with complex human emotions and moral dilemmas. His writing offers valuable insights into the power and influence of storytelling.
Explores the claim to represent the world 'as it is'. This work takes a fresh look at the realist tradition and its intense interest in the visual. Discussing major English and French novels and paintings from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it provides a perceptive view of the realist project.
Focusing on the contemporary fascination with identity, this work by renowned critic Peter Brooks delves into how personal and cultural identities are constructed and perceived. It examines the complexities of selfhood in a rapidly changing world, drawing on various disciplines to illuminate the ongoing dialogue surrounding identity. Through insightful analysis and engaging prose, Brooks encourages readers to reflect on their own identities and the societal influences that shape them.
This text argues that melodrama is a crucial mode of expression in modern literature. After studying stage melodrama as a dominant popular form in the 1800s, the author looks at Balzac and Henry James, to show how these realist novelists created fiction using rhetoric and excess of melodrama.
In this spiritual sequel to his influential Reading for the Plot, Peter Brooks examines the dangerously alluring power of storytelling. “There’s nothing in the world more powerful than a good story. Nothing can stop it. Nothing can defeat it.” So begins the scholar and literary critic Peter Brooks’s reckoning with today’s flourishing cult of story. Forty years after publishing his seminal work Reading for the Plot, his important contribution to what came to be known as the “narrative turn” in contemporary criticism and philosophy, Brooks returns to question the unquestioning fashion in which story is now embraced as an excuse or explanation and the fact that every brand or politician comes equipped with one. In a discussion that ranges from The Girl on the Train to legal argument, Brooks reminds us that among the powers of narrative is the power to deceive.
Set against the backdrop of post-Napoleonic France, the story follows Philippe de Rohan-Chabot, an aristocratic diplomat tasked with transporting Napoleon's body to Paris. Competing with him is Henri Beyle, known as Stendhal, while Amelia Curial grapples with her mother's scandalous past and societal expectations. The narrative explores themes of political intrigue, romance, and personal struggle as the characters navigate their intertwined fates, all while a looming revolution threatens the monarchy they serve.
Balzac, Henry James, Melodrama, and the Mode of Excess
Set against the backdrop of Paris in 1875-76, the narrative explores the formative experiences of young Henry James, revealing the evolution of novelistic modernity during a pivotal historical moment. Peter Brooks skillfully combines historical analysis and theoretical insight, drawing on his expertise in both French and American literature to illuminate the intricate connections between James's personal journey and broader literary developments of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Exploring the intricate dynamics of character relationships, this analysis critiques the notion of "realism" in the works of Crébillon, Marivaux, Laclos, and Stendahl. Peter Brooks delves into how these authors portray personal worth and social interactions within a cultivated coterie. By providing in-depth readings of their novels, he also connects their themes to the seventeenth-century moralistes and the literary forms that emerged in the refined drawing rooms of the time, highlighting the dramatic essence of social existence.
A mysterious egg hatches a unique bird called a "chunkwing," who refuses to eat worms and embarks on an adventure to find the food that will help him grow wings. His journey takes him beyond his nest, where he meets an eclectic group of friends, including a cat, a priest, and a friendly witch. The enchanting narrative, complemented by Sarah Oliver's beautiful illustrations, captivates readers of all ages. Additionally, the book offers access to an audio version read by the author, enhancing the storytelling experience.
The narrative centers on Henry James' transformative ten-month journey across the United States during the Gilded Age, as recounted by critic Peter Brooks. After years abroad, James returns to a rapidly changing America, exploring its diverse landscapes and cultures. His observations, which culminate in the ethnographic work "The American Scene," reveal his evolving perspective on American identity, materialism, and democracy. Brooks blends biography and literary criticism to highlight the lasting significance of James's insights in contemporary society.