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by: John Gardner
List Price: $18.50Amazon.com's Price: $16.65 You Save: $1.85 (10%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 801
EAN: 9780465052264
ISBN: 0465052266
Label: Basic Books, Inc.
Manufacturer: Basic Books, Inc.
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 234
Publication Date: October 04, 1979
Publisher: Basic Books, Inc.
Sales Rank: 108128
Studio: Basic Books, Inc.
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
A genuine classic of literary criticism, On Moral Fiction argues that ”true art is by its nature moral.”
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Stream of Consciousness.
I have no idea what John Gardner intended to write in this book. I think he vents his stream of consciousness. Reading it's a struggle, and more trouble than I care for.
I mean, he's supposed to know how to write, right?
Rating:  - Obligatory Reading for All Novelists
Gardner defines the mission of the visionary novelist in a way that underlines the essential importance of storytellers to humanity's hopes and dreams--an approach as relevant in today's global village as it was when he first wrote it.
Rating: - Mutual Exclusivity?
I enjoy Gardner's critical and educational writings even when I disagree, as with the idea of the indispensible "fictional dream." I'd like to point out, though, something other reviewers here seem to have either missed or mistaken for a contradiction. The avant garde and postmodernism seem to be placed, by these reviewers, at the opposite end of the scale from that which Gardner promotes. Meanwhile, Gardner clearly didn't believe that postmodernism and the avant garde were useless and irresponsible, ... Read More
Rating: - A most wonderful conversation
I first read this book in the 1970's when it was new. I've owned a copy ever since, and I've given so many away as gifts that I've lost count.
It is easily my favorite book. From the moment I first read it, until today; I open its pages and feel as if I'm having a literary conversation with an old friend.
The "moral" in the title puts off some folks, but don't be deterred. Gardner uses the term "moral" as you or I would use the word "truth." All Gardner is imploring is that authors ... Read More
Rating:  - Postmodern novelist tells all!
I have to tell you, I don't get Gardner. To start with, he writes this book mainly as a gag to rile folks up. And some buy his confidence game, forgetting, as they do, that one of Gardner's favorite novelists was Melville. Because, if you're paying attention, he then goes on to write one postmodern novel after another. Grendel. October Light. The King's Indian. Mickelsson's Ghosts. Each more metafictional than the last. So what if his name's not Barth, or Barthelme, or Barthes, it might have been Barthgardner, ... Read More
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