The first edition of "The Rhetoric of Fiction" transformed the criticism of fiction and soon became a classic in the field. One of the most widely used texts in fiction courses, it is a standard reference point in advanced discussions of how fictional form works, how authors make novels accessible, and how readers recreate texts, and its concepts and terms--such as "the implied author," "the postulated reader," and "the unreliable narrator"--have become part of the standard critical lexicon.
For this new edition, Wayne C. Booth has written an extensive Afterword in which he clarifies misunderstandings, corrects what he now views as errors, and sets forth his own recent thinking about the rhetoric of fiction. The other new feature is a Supplementary Bibliography, prepared by James Phelan in consultation with the author, which lists the important critical works of the past twenty years--two decades that Booth describes as "the richest in the history of the subject."

这本散文选中介绍的是《人物素描》、 《伯里克利传》、 《真实的故事》和《达夫尼斯和赫洛亚》。《人物素描》（Characteres）共三十篇。这是有史以来第一次有人写出一批这样的小品。它包含着深刻的社会调查、心理研究、归纳法和演绎法的实际运用，以及移风易俗的道德目的，在客观上反映了雅典社会生活的一个侧面。《伯里克利传》是普卢塔克根据他所掌握的史料，把伯里克利这位雅典大政治家的思想和性格活生生地展现出来，对他的功过完全用事实来加以说明，不做过多引申，使人感到余音未绝，有无穷回味，这是一篇生动的伟人传记。 《真实的故事》为反对当时风行的荒诞无稽的游记，他写了这部更加荒诞无稽的游记。本篇文章只有短短两万多字但是内容十分丰富，在每一段所叙述的故事中卢奇安极尽荒诞之能事，故事情节时常超人想象，其中各种人兽、奇事、异域的想象都尽可能地夸大。《达夫尼斯和赫洛亚》的布局和结构采用新喜剧的惯用格式：一家人因迷信神示或贫穷等原因，遗弃婴儿，婴儿由动物哺育或牧人抚养，长大成人后偶遇亲生父母，相认团聚，皆大欢喜。但与喜剧不同的是，该小说人物不止二三个，而有十几二十个相互有关，构成错综复杂的故事。作为局部的艺术手法，作者还采用了田园牧歌中牧人的爱情独白和两个牧人为争夺一个牧羊女而赛歌的形式，借以哄托气氛，刻画人物心理。经过这种结合，朗戈斯首创了田园牧歌式的小说。总体看来，《古希腊散文选》提供的完整的作品，以供文学欣赏。