The Things That Matter What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life

She felt rather inclined just for a moment to stand still after all that chatter, and pick out one particular thing; the thing that mattered . . . Virginia Woolf,To The Lighthouse An illuminating exploration of how seven of the greatest English novels of the nineteenth and twentieth centuriesFrankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse,andBetween the Actsportray the essential experiences of life. Edward Mendelsona professor of English at Columbia Universityillustrates how each novel is a living portrait of the human condition while expressing its author's complex individuality and intentions and emerging from the author's life and times. He exploresFrankensteinas a searing representation of child neglect and abandonment andMrs. Dallowayas a portrait of an ideal but almost impossible adult love, and leads us to a fresh and fascinating new understanding of each of the seven novels, reminding usin the most captivating waywhy they matter.

Edward Mendelson is a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. He is the literary executor of W. H. Auden’s estate and the editor of Auden’s complete works. Among his previous books are Early Auden, Later Auden, and editions of novels by Anthony Trollope, George Meredith, Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells, and Arnold Bennett. He lives in New York City with his wife and son.


From the Hardcover edition.