The Novel

The publishing world as it was a few short years ago appears at center stage in this book, not - as its title might indicate - the creative process that results in a work of fiction. Kinetic Press, a fictitious New York publishing house, can easily be considered the book's main character. Lukas Yoder, whose voice carries the first of four segments (there are no chapter divisions), has finally produced a best seller after dismal numbers for his first four books have nearly caused Kinetic to refuse him further publication. His editor's insistence that if Yoder goes, so does she, is all that's given him the chance to see Book #5 in print. But that book's a runaway. Now Yoder is finishing the manuscript of Book #6, which he declares must be his last. He's past 60, and Emma - the beloved wife who supported him, both financially and emotionally, though all the years when his writing went nowhere - welcomes this announcement. She can't stand another "seige," as she puts it. THE NOVEL's second segment belongs to Yvonne Marmelle, Yoder's editor. Born to a "genteel poor" Jewish family tied to New York City's garment district, she enters the publishing industry out of genuine love for books and works her way from beginning go-fer to senior editor with Lukas Yoder's first novel as her debut assignment. Karl Strieber, professor at the local college that graduated Yoder, aspires to become a respected critic. Like so many other literary scholars, he also hungers to publish his own novel. In the book's third segment, Strieber's voice carries the reader through his experiences and entwines his life with the lives of his neighbor Lukas Yoder and their shared editor, Yvonne Marmelle. The book's fourth and final segment takes on the voice of Jane Garland, a wealthy widow for whom good books are one of life's passions. She already loves local author Yoder's novels, and meets critic Strieber when her brilliant grandson becomes Strieber's student. When young Timothy also is published by Kinetic, with Yvonne Marmelle as his editor, Mrs. Garland and Ms. Marmelle strike up a friendship that's tested by tragedy as THE NOVEL reaches its unexpectedly dramatic climax. Although much of this book consists of character study, I turned its pages with consistent pleasure. It's rich and insightful, and often wickedly funny, too. I was impressed that Michener spoke as a prophet for his profession, when he admitted that an author writing in the 1990s - just before the electronic publishing industry, driven by popular use of the Internet, took off - couldn't begin to guess how books would be published in the next century. My only quibble is one that has nothing to do with Michener. Whoever wrote the promotional copy for THE NOVEL spoke of a mysterious threat, and promised that Jane Garland would hold the key to solving this mystery. Not quite an accurate description of the plot! In fact, rather a misleading one. But that's not the author's doing, and THE NOVEL is wonderful readin

I believe Michener has succeeded in doing precisely what one of his characters advises against: writing a novel about something abstract. "The Novel" is not about its characters at all, but about itself and the craft. Both a great read and something I would recommend to all those who aspire to be novelists.

Many people have commented that this book tends to move a little slowly, or that it's abstract, or that it's got some odd experimental features. All true. SPOILER ALERT - DON'T READ BELOW IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK YET. But this is the whole point of the book. The Novel is the book that he's wring about in the Novel, only slight more novelized. Get it? It's an amazingly clever literary trick. I think the reader is meant to discover this about 1/2 way through the book, and when read with this perspective it takes on a whole different flavor.

"The Novel" is one of Michener's last works, and it must also be one of his shortest. Far less ambitious than most of his signature historical novels, it tells a story closer to home for him - both literally and figuratively. It centers on the two worlds he probably knew best: the Pennsylvania Dutch Country and the publishing industry.The subject at hand is, ostensibly, an aging novelist and questions about the likely success of his anticipated new book. But Michener really just uses the story as a backdrop for four autobiographical sketches of the author and three people who figure in his life and career. Most of the story is not as suspenseful as some of the review quotes would have you believe, but the stories of the four characters and how they found themselves in their current situations are immediately engaging, tension or no tension. If nothing else, I definitely wanted to find out how they ended up.Along the way, Michener throws in what I'm sure are several knowing jokes about the literary world in all its snobbery, notably a lengthy battle between two characters over the merits of Longfellow and a wonderfully awful "experimental" novel which the critics, predictably enough, love. If Michener himself weren't so highly regarded throughout his career, I would suspect him of intending many of the dialogue exchanges as digs at his critics. As it is, perhaps he meant comments like "there are novels critics like, and novels readers love" as a more generalzied swipe at the establishment he was so familiar with. The good news for us, of course, is that Michener was both. This is another great sample of his talent.

Gone are Michener's great historical panoramas told in terms of those who lived them, in favor of the microcosm, both of the Pennsylvania Dutch and the world of the novel. We are asked "What is expected of the novel?" JM gives us four different answers, all correct. If his characters are seen through a glass darkly, it may be because they as participants are less of interest than the conflicts arising from their perception of what a "good" novel should be. I believe Michener has succeeded in doing precisely what one of his characters advises against: writing a novel about something abstract. "The Novel" is not about its characters at all, but about itself and the craft. Both a great read and something I would recommend to all those who aspire to be novelists.