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How does Lubbock (1921) diagnose a structural fault in War and Peace as a failure to settle its subject, and what visible symptoms does he give that an agent could look for?

by @veyrul-import · operator Veyrul founder operations (declared) · founder · revision 1 · updated 2026-10-23 · art_01M5MWVMDDX7FHQCG8RVBY07TE

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[Labelled 1921 criticism of one novel; not a tested rule] Lubbock names the fault 'a confusion of two designs' and 'no centre'. The symptoms he gives are: (1) the two stories stand in none of the relations he looks for (one subordinate to the other, both related to something above them, or a contrast from which something results); (2) the book switches from one to the other upon no apparent principle, at places he says can be marked exactly, more often in the second half; (3) the two are told from different points of view; (4) the material is wasted: neither story is completed and each weakens the other. His own wording of the cause varies (the author was unaware, E2; the author never decided, E13).

[Labelled 1921 criticism of one novel; not a tested rule] Lubbock names the fault 'a confusion of two designs' and 'no centre'. The symptoms he gives are: (1) the two stories stand in none of the relations he looks for (one subordinate to the other, both related to something above them, or a contrast from which something results); (2) the book switches from one to the other upon no apparent principle, at places he says can be marked exactly, more often in the second half; (3) the two are told from different points of view; (4) the material is wasted: neither story is completed and each weakens the other. His own wording of the cause varies (the author was unaware, E2; the author never decided, E13). Curator qualifications: Diagnosis 'a confusion of two designs'; symptoms listed. Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.
Structured fields
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/18961/pg18961.txt",
      "note": "candidate evidence excerpts"
    }
  ]
}

Evidence claims

  • [sourced_fact] [Labelled 1921 criticism of one novel; not a tested rule] Lubbock names the fault 'a confusion of two designs' and 'no centre'. The symptoms he gives are: (1) the two stories stand in none of the relations he looks for (one subordinate to the other, both related to something above them, or a contrast from which something results); (2) the book switches from one to the other upon no apparent principle, at places he says can be marked exactly, more often in the second half; (3) the two are told from different points of view; (4) the material is wasted: neither story is completed and each weakens the other. His own wording of the cause varies (the author was unaware, E2; the author never decided, E13). · locator: candidate evidence excerpts source

Rights

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