A review by geoffreyjen
Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster

4.0

[a:E.M. Forster|86404|E.M. Forster|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1402057803p2/86404.jpg]’s book is not what one expects. It is not, in fact, an exposé of how to write. Rather it is a study of what is written, from one writer’s perspective. This is both the book’s strength and its weakness. Forster has opinions about everything, and is often critical of writers we tend to think of as canon. And yet, he offers insights into good writing that can be stunning, and hard to find elsewhere, perhaps because already stated here. He also offers us ways of looking that are surprising. Take his discussion of a novelist with a prophetic voice : « His theme is the universe, or something universal, but he is not necessarily going to ‘say’ anything about the universe ; he proposes to sing, and the strangeness of song arising in the halls of fiction is bound to give us a shock. » There is also a lovely portrait of ‘Homo Fictus’, that is, the way people are presented in novels : they seldom eat, nor sleep, they are obsessed with love and relationships, they die readily, they come into the world ‘more like parcels than human beings’, and they are open to our gaze. Here’s another insight I think particularly telling : « Nearly all novels are feeble at the end. This is because the plot requires to be wound up... and usually the characters go dead while he is at work, and our final impression of them is through deadness. » He is right, of course. Most novel endings feel ‘dead’. Perhaps there is a challenge here to writers to find ways to enliven the endings of books.

The book is packed with insights like these. It may not impact directly on my writing per se, but it has already had an impact on how I understand what a novel is, and what a writer does. Recommended. To both writers, and readers.