Aspects of the Novel by E. M. Forster (PDF)

Description

The renowned British novelist’s “casual and wittily acute guidance” on reading—and writing—great fiction (Harper’s Magazine). Renowned for such classics as A Room with a View, Howards End, and A Passage to India, E. M. Forster was one of Britain’s—and the world’s—most distinguished fiction writers, a frequent nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature. In this collection of lectures delivered at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1927, he takes a wide-ranging look at English-language novels—with specific examples from such masters as Dickens and Austen—discussing the elements they all have in common. Using a witty, informal tone and drawing on his extensive readings in French and Russian literature, Forster discusses his ideas in reference to such figures as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Proust; explains the difference between “flat” and “round” characters and between plot and story; and ultimately provides an “admirable and delightful” education for anyone who appreciates the art of a good book (The New York Times).

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Of course, I allow myself the luxury of re-reading this masterpiece every year and have been so doing since 1988. Why? To hone my skills as a writer and for the pleasure of reading a real novelist comment on the real novel. The real novel is not a tidy piece of art. Forbid it almighty gods. Oh no, it is a piece of organized chaos like War and Peace. And so it follows that the real discussion of the art of the novel need not be a tidy organized piece of art. Each time I have read this work I get something new and important out of it. That says more about it than it does about me for that is the mark of a real classic – benefits of re-reading. The distinction of story from plot is interesting and real: A story is the narration of events in time and a plot explains the events or gives reasons for them. The King dies and then the Queen dies. That’s a story. The King dies and then the Queen dies of grief. That’s the plot as it explains why the Queen died. The discussion of character is somewhat dated but classical. You should know it if you are writing fiction. Characters are round or flat according to Forster. Round characters can surprise us in convincing ways. Flat characters don’t surprise us. But what of characters that surprise us but not in a convincing way? They are according to Forster flat characters who are pretentding to be round. If he were able to revise this appraisal, Forster might say characters are flat or round and everything in between according to the needs of the novel at that particular time and place. Besides the advice about what novels should do and be, the Aspects also includes a great deal of philosophical advice: “If human nature does alter it will be because individuals manage to look at themselves in a new way. Here and there people – a very few people, but a few novelists are among them – are trying to do this. Every institution and vested interest is against such as search: organized religion, the state, …” The discussion of rhythm in fiction is excellent and significant and probably would be replace by a discussion of scene and summary in modern writing schools. I see no discussion of realistic presentation (based on detailed description) or discussion on psychological realism or moral realism based on plot and actions. So the novel has progressed the way Forster hoped it would and that implies that humanitiy has progressed as well. For humanity’s greatest hope is in the novel for it is the novel (not painting and certainly not music) that shows us our inner life. If we don’t know what’s wrong there is little hope for correction. And if we don’t know what’s right there is no hope period.

⭐This must have been a very fun romp when Forster unveiled it as a series of lectures at Trinity College, Cambridge, nine years after the First World War ended and eleven before the Second one started. In illustrating examples of specific writing techniques Forster refers to easily fifty books, authors, and characters (in 175 pages, mind you). When would the young men in his audience have had the opportunity to acquaint themselves with a fraction of them? How many would still have a place set for them at the family table twenty years hence? This slender volume is a piece of history itself; more a running critique of two hundred years of British literature than it is a manual of craft. God how I’d like to see the attendance sheet for those lectures to see how many of his students profited from Forster’s observations and are known today.What will you learn from this book? For one you will learn Forster’s distinction between “story” and “plot.” FYI, stories read as follows: “then this, then this, then this…” Plot reads as follows: “This caused this, which caused this.” Okay, that’s two chapters. Then we have two aspects of character. The first is what we now call the character’s interior life, and Forster calls his “secret life.” This is something known to the author and revealed as organically and realistically as possible in order to seduce the reader into the character’s mind and to intimately share his understanding of things. The second aspect of character is a Forster neologism, round versus flat characters. In a nutshell, flat characters are predictable and round characters surprise us. This perception of characters being more interesting to readers because of their dimensionality was an original insight of Forster’s.Frankly, dear reader, (a familiarity Forster strongly discourages) the chapters on fantasy and prophesy may be skipped. He was after all being paid for a series of lectures and though he’d covered the topic in five chapters, he recognized the billing opportunity of carrying on for another four. In fairness the last is a three and a half page conclusion. It basically says that we may learn much from past masters but only creative new insights, new characters, and new craft will delight tomorrow’s readers. Future readers, that would be us, will have higher expectations.

⭐One for the shelves that helps us to understand the novel in greater detail. As it deals mainly with older works, it is a bit dated, but great for academic study.

⭐good value. Studying Forster and was very informative

⭐Forster was, of course, a wonderful novelist, so who am I to criticise what he has to say about novels? Nonetheless – as readable and entertaining as these transcripts from a lecture series are – this book seems somewhat imprecise and wordy by today’s standards. While there is much insight in these pages (the force of causality in fiction, for instance), Forster grapples with abstractions without really managing to lock them down. Perhaps practitioners are not always the best people to analyse their own craft.

⭐Forster before being a classic has been a living writer with his dedicated readers. He’s today probably more wellknown through the adaptations for the cinema, and of course, his famous novel “Maurice”, which was published after his death, as it was dealing with homosexuality, a delicate topic in victorian times, and also after, all along the first part of the twentieth century.The essays Forster has dedicated to his knowledge of the art of Novel are very readable as they were first written and read for a student audience.

⭐Thank You, Very happy indeed!!! XXX

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