Aspects of the Novel

The renowned British novelist's "e;casual and wittily acute guidance"e; 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 "e;flat"e; and "e;round"e; characters and between plot and story; and ultimately provides an "e;admirable and delightful"e; education for anyone who appreciates the art of a good book (The New York Times).