“[Boardman] has taken for his subject a relatively unexplored area: what happens to narrative structure when novelists decide to experiment, usually late in their careers, with tried and tested forms, in order to give shape and coherence to fresh insights and new perceptions? . . . Here, for the first time, is a comparative, generic study, looking at the last novels from the point of view of narrative theory. . . . At his best (as here), Boardman is a critic worth attending for his patience, good sense, and all-round clarity of vision.” - Chris Walsh , Notes and Queries
"Michael Boardman's book expands awareness of the logic of formal development in individual authors and comparatively of one authorial career to another. The result will be valuable to students of the several works and novelists dealt with as well as those concerned with the form in general and, indeed, with problems of genre in general." - Ralph Rader, University of California, Berkeley
"One of the most compelling features of this study of narrative innovation is its innovative thesis. To read five such dissimilar works in terms of the shared characteristic Boardman finds in them requires a certain amount of critical courage. He undertakes his bold task with intellectual integrity and presents his argument with assurance and tact. . . . Specialists in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century fiction, as well as students of the novel generally, should find this an interesting and important book." - Oliver W. Ferguson, Duke University
