The Figure In The Carpet Sparknotes

357 declares the narrator in the opening line.

The figure in the carpet sparknotes.

A short summary in the tale a nameless first person narrator undertakes in the absence of his friend and fellow critic george corvick the task of reviewing the latest. 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. The figure in the carpet is a short story sometimes considered a novella by american writer henry james first published in 1896. Start your 48 hour free trial to unlock this the figure in the carpet study guide and get instant access to the following.

The figure in the carpet. It is told in the first person. 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. In a gesture of compensation one supposes vereker confides to the narrator that his fictions are all linked by a single idea or scheme that no critic has ever noticed but that is the very secret.

Summary the narrator a writer prides himself on his astute review of hugh vereker s latest novel. But when he meets the author in person at a social event vereker tells him that whilst the review is intelligent he has missed the hidden underlying issue which informs all of his writing. The figure in the carpet henry james 1843 1916 the story ostensibly concerns a young literary critics who greatly admirs the writer hugh vereker. The figure in the carpet has become a short hand or idiom for the key to understanding a writer s work.

Unlock this study guide now. You ll also get. Although lerner doesn t mention it the title of his very short introductory chapter looking for the figure in the carpet is i assume beholden to the wonderful short story the figure in the carpet by henry james who understood a great deal about authorial intention and the pitfalls of interpretation. Vereker dismisses his efforts explaining that all critics have missed my little point the particular thing i ve written my books most for the thing for the critic to find my secret like a complex figure in a persian carpet.