Literary Significance & Criticism
The author has said that of the novels he has written, this is his personal favourite. "Definitely the intellectual of the family, it's the one that went away to University and got a first. I think The Bridge is the best of my books."
Kafkaesque and multi-layered, it is probably the non-SF Banks novel with most in common with his Culture books. There is even mention of a knife missile late in the book. Banks has said that after this book, he felt his SF and non-SF work diverged.
Read more about this topic: The Bridge (novel)
Famous quotes containing the words literary, significance and/or criticism:
“The purifying, healing influence of literature, the dissipating of passions by knowledge and the written word, literature as the path to understanding, forgiveness and love, the redeeming might of the word, the literary spirit as the noblest manifestation of the spirit of man, the writer as perfected type, as saint.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“It is necessary not to be Christian to appreciate the beauty and significance of the life of Christ.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A friend of mine spoke of books that are dedicated like this: “To my wife, by whose helpful criticism ...” and so on. He said the dedication should really read: “To my wife. If it had not been for her continual criticism and persistent nagging doubt as to my ability, this book would have appeared in Harper’s instead of The Hardware Age.””
—Brenda Ueland (1891–1985)