Diez grandes novelas y sus autores

In the late 1940s, the editor of an American literary magazine asked the already celebrated British writer William Somerset Maugham to compile a list of what he considered to be the ten best novels in world literature. The thought-provoking list Maugham offered in response soon led him to write the memorable essays on the art of fiction that make up this volume. Maugham begins each chapter with a delightful portrait of the life and milieu of writers of the caliber of Fielding, Stendhal, Melville, and Tolstoy. This is followed by an original analysis of these now-classic novels (including Pride and Prejudice, David Copperfield, Wuthering Heights, and The Brothers Karamazov), conducted with humor, irony, and, above all, the expertise of someone who knows the writer's craft from the inside. Because, through these essays, Maugham provides us with the keys to discovering how a character is created, how narrative intensity is maintained, and what the best point of view is for recounting a literary matter. Finally, Maugham points out, the reader must do their part for the literary pact to be fulfilled: at the very least, they must possess "enough imagination to be able to take an interest in the lives, joys and sorrows, tribulations, perils, and adventures of the characters."