SOURCE: A review of The Practice of Writing, in World Literature Today, Vol. 71, No. 4, Autumn, 1997, pp. 795-6.

In the following review, Hagen offers a positive assessment of The Practice of Writing.

Time and again, during my reading of The Practice of Writing, I had to remind myself to take notes for this review. David Lodge writes criticism like the good novelist he is. There is always a story to tell: authors’ lives, authors’ books, how his own life and career intersect with their lives and books. This is not to say that Lodge’s criticism is negligible or his judgments entirely personal. The appeal of this collection comes from the personality of an author as he reflects on the experiences and people who have mattered to him as a critic and a creative artist.

The essays have many occasions, from book reviews to lectures, but one important occasion...