Aspects of the Novel

by E. M. Forster

Overview

Forster's renowned guide to writing sparkles with wit and insight for contemporary writers and readers. With lively language and excerpts from well-known classics, Forster takes on the seven elements vital to a novel: story, people, plot, fantasy, prophecy, pattern, and rhythm. He not only defines and explains such terms as "round" characters versus "flat" characters (and why both are needed for an effective novel), but also provides examples of writing from such literary greats as Dickens and Austen. Forster's original commentary illuminates and entertains without lapsing into complicated, scholarly rhetoric, coming together in a key volume on writing by a novelist Graham Greene called a "gentle genius."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781420981186
Publisher:	Digireads.com
Publication date:	01/02/2023
Pages:	94
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.23(d)

About the Author

Edward Morgan Forster (January 1, 1879 - June 7, 1970) was a novelist, short story writer and essayist. He was born in London and studied at King's College, Cambridge. In 1911 he went to India with G. Lowes Dickinson, his mentor at King's College. During World War I, Forster was engaged in civilian war work in Alexandria. He returned to London after the war as a journalist. In 1921 he again went to India, to work as secretary to the Maharajah of Dewas State. His novel A Passage to India was published in 1924. It is considered as his magnum opus, and it won the Femina Vie Heureuse and the James Tait Black Memorial prizes in 1925. His other novels are Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), The Longest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910).In 1927 Forster delivered the William George Clark lectures at Trinity College, Cambridge. Titled Aspects of the Novel, the lectures were published in book form the same year. Also, in 1927 he became a Fellow of Cambridge.His other writings are - a collection of short stories The Eternal Moment (1928), a collection of reviews Abinger Harvest (1936), two biographies (Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson in 1934 and Marianne Thornton in 1956), a libretto for Benjamin Britten's opera, Billy Budd (with Eric Crozier), and numerous essays. In 1953 he published The Hill of Devi, an uneven collection of letters and reminiscences of his experiences in India.In 1946, Forster moved to King's College in Cambridge to live there as an honorary fellow. Mr. Forster's numerous awards included membership in the Order of Companions of Honour, a recognition bestowed in 1953 by Queen Elizabeth II. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 20 separate years.

Date of Birth:

January 1, 1879

Date of Death:

June 7, 1970

Place of Birth:

London

Place of Death:

Coventry, England

Education:

B. A. in classics, King's College, Cambridge, 1900; B. A. in history, 1901; M.A., 1910

Table of Contents

I	Introductory	3
II	The Story	25
III	People	43
IV	People (Continued)	65
V	The Plot	83
VI	Fantasy	105
VII	Prophecy	125
VIII	Pattern and Rhythm	149
IX	Conclusion	171
	Index	175

Editorial Reviews

We discover, under [Forster's] casual and wittily acute guidance, many things about the literary magic which transmutes the dull stuff of He—said and She—said into characters, stories, and intimations of truth.
—Harper's Magazine

Jacques Barzun

Mr. Forster's volume is more than a discussion of a literary form, it is a discussion of experience, of life, an admirable and delightful reflection of a mind that has recognized it's own affinity with Erasmus and Montaigne.
—New York Times Book Review

Theodore Spencer