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Biography & MemoirsAspects of the NovelE. M. ForsterAspects of the Novel

Aspects of the Novel

E. M. Forster

Biography & MemoirsEnglish
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In these lectures the novelist E. M. Forster looks at the novel not by period or influence but by its parts. He begins with the story, the most basic…

Catalogue details

Author
E. M. Forster
Category
Biography & Memoirs
Language
English
Source
Project Gutenberg

About this book

In these lectures the novelist E. M. Forster looks at the novel not by period or influence but by its parts. He begins with the story, the most basic element, which makes us ask 'and then?'; then people, where he distinguishes 'flat' characters, built around a single idea, from 'round' ones that can surprise us; then plot, which adds causality ('The king died, and then the queen died of grief'); and then fantasy, prophecy, pattern and rhythm, with examples from Tolstoy, Dickens, Austen, Dostoevsky, Proust and many others, all imagined as writing side by side in one room.

Context and significance

Forster gave the Clark Lectures at Cambridge in 1927, and the book has been a favourite of readers and writers ever since for its wit and common sense. His own masterpiece is A Passage to India, and Howards End is close behind.

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