The author says that his secret is like a complex figure in a persian carpet.
The figure in the carpet meaning.
And yet the story in which the idiom was born henry james s 1896 tale the figure in the carpet refuses to open itself up to easy interpretations or analysis.
Vereker is upset because the critics fail to grasp the deeper meaning in his works.
The narrator whose name is never revealed meets his favorite author and becomes obsessed with discovering the secret meaning or intention of all the author s works.
P 365 the work of a literary critic in vereker s eyes is to find the figure in the carpet.
The figure in the carpet is a short story sometimes considered a novella by american writer henry james first published in 1896.
In the story a magazine critic of novels meets his favorite author and becomes obsessed with his discovery that the author told him that he placed secret meaning in all his works a meaning that the critic never saw.
Which is to say that what a literary critic and readers of literature should do is to look for a deeper meaning or context in works of literature.
The figure in the carpet plot summary an un named literary critic feels he has successfully reviewed the latest work of hugh vereker a distinguished novelist.
It is told in the first person.