The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot

Written by Charles Baxter

Narrated by Mike Lenz

The Art Of series, edited by Charles Baxter, is a new series of brief books by contemporary writers on an important craft issue. Each book investigates an aspect of the craft of fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry by discussing works by authors past and present. The books in The Art Of series are not strictly manuals, but serve readers and writers by illuminating aspects of the craft of writing that people think they already know but don't really know.

The first book in The Art Of series of books on the craft of writing, fiction writer and essayist Charles Baxter's The Art of Subtext discusses and illustrates the hidden subtextual overtones and undertones in fictional works haunted by the unspoken, the suppressed, and the secreted. As Baxter notes in one essay, "A novel is not a summary of its plot but a collection of instances, of luminous specific details that take us in the direction of the unsaid and unseen."Using an array of examples from Melville and Dostoyevsky to contemporary writers Paula Fox, Edward P. Jones, and Lorrie Moore, Baxter explains how fiction writers create those visible and invisible details, how what is displayed evokes what is not displayed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: Mar 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9781094442242

Charles Baxter

Charles Baxter lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and teaches at the University of Michigan. He is the author of six previous works of fiction, including ‘Believers, Harmony of the World’ and ‘Through the Safety Net’. ‘The Feast of Love’, published by Fourth Estate in 2001, was shortlisted for the National Book Award.

Reviews for The Art of Subtext

[dennis morgan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If it’s not a plot element and it conveys meaning indirectly–then it’s subtext. End of story. Don’t need book club comments for 4 plus hours.

[garfield linton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Insightful. Covered a wide range of authors and books! Every aspiring writers should read it!!

[Sam radburn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Several passages were illuminating enough that I will listen again and take notes. Covers a wide range of subject matter but still succinct- highly recommended!

[b.masonjudy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This short collection of essays focused on subtext will be a welcome addition to any writer's library. Baxter is a witty and insightful essayist and each work focusing on a different aspect of subtext uses a wide variety of examples from literature. Baxter brings in examples from theatre as well to demonstrate the way in which infections and staging can provide literary depth to a work and has given me a lot to think about in terms of the way in which description can further influence my own stories.

[byebyelibrary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A book about writing and literature that is itself literature. Baxter's books always have more insight and intelligence than the previous fifty books you have read combined. The Art of the Subtext is no exception. It deserves equal billing with the Art of Fiction and any other book on how to write great fiction. Baxter talks about books we have all read, yet is able to pinpoint why we have read them.

[lisapeet · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I got a lot out of this. It's a craft book for writers, specifically fiction, although I don't see why you couldn't use a lot of what he talks about in essay writing as well. It's not so much a how-to as a reminder of how to keep a certain dynamic, how to move plot along with all that lives below it -- very smart and useful, at least to me. Now I'm interested to see the rest of the series.

[bhenricksen_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In The Art of Subtext, Minneapolis novelist Charles Baxter goes beyond many previous books on the writing of fiction. Baxter believes that fictional techniques work when they are rooted in basic cultural assumptions; therefore, his technical advice comes from a provocative meditation on who we are today. He asks why, for instance, writers no longer introduce characters with lengthy verbal portraits of their faces. To summarize Baxter crudely, it is because in a world of makeovers and simulations, we no longer trust appearances. The techniques by which an author creates subtext are important precisely because in our culture truth itself has gone underground.

[Kevin ONeal · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Complete waste of time. This is one of the worst books on writing Ive read

[Eric Crim · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very well written, expression of subtle over description that's been lost to the present authors except in descriptive genres, and a very articulate explanation of subtle non expressions