The question of what these novels, “with their queer elements of the accidental and the arbitrary, artistically mean” is raised in the preface to The Tragic Muse. For 10 points each:
[10h] With what memorable two-word phrase did Henry James disparage “large, loose” 19th century novels like The Newcomes, The Three Musketeers, and War and Peace?
ANSWER: large, loose, baggy monsters [prompt on partial answer]
[10e] Presumably this James novella, by its nature, is neither large, nor loose, nor baggy, nor monstrous. It does feature the ghosts Miss Jessel and Peter Quint, though.
ANSWER: The Turn of the Screw
[10m] This author wrote “It cannot be too loose, too baggy or monstrous; but a novel built as prettily as a teacup is not of much use” in The Art of Fiction. After having an arm ripped off in a fight, the title character of his most famous novel says he's “had an accident… so may you all.”
ANSWER: John (Champlin) Gardner Jr. (The second novel is Grendel.)
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