Gardner's face is printed on the back of my copy of "On Moral Fiction." The picture was, well, of it's time -- very Seventies. I worried that the criticism would seem no more current than his hairstyle.

I could not have been more wrong. Gardner's ideas and opinions come across as strong today as they must have in 1978. I hope they're still read, and influencing someone, somewhere. Judging by what I see in '"high literature" I'm not sure.

Gardner believes good fiction has a moral purpose at its heart, and without it, no matter how skilled the author, a book is just a lifeless corpse -- or worse.

This is a good read, combative and well argued, and right on the money. ( )

John Gardner's book is the first piece of literary criticism I read that made me feel as though reading literature and writing well is heroic work. Gardner simply believes that literature should affirm life in as true and sophisticated a way as possible. He warns against simplistic cornball moralizing dares the author to penetrate the most important phenomena in all its complexity and show why it is life affirming.

http://www.i-reports.info/b/B199502.h... ( )