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A review by booksvoices
Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster
3.0
What are the most important aspects of a novel? The answer to this question is very personal and may vary, but for Edmund Morgan Forster, author of A Room with a View and A Passage to India, the most important aspects of a novel can be narrowed down to seven:
• The Story - what happens
• The People - to whom the story happens
• The Plot - why the story happens
• Fantasy - element of surprise
• Prophecy - connection to a human experience
• Pattern - atmosphere/theme
• Rhythm - expansion of the theme
This book is based on a series of lectures delivered by Forster in 1927, Ulysses had already been written, but the most unconventional narratives of the post-war, not to mention post-modern, had not, and those narratives challenge some of the rigid notions about plot, story, and pattern of the time. However, it is very interesting to see what the author considered to be indispensable to a well-written book. The notions of flat (comic and caricature) characters versus round (developed and tragic) characters are still relevant to the analysis of fictional characters. I would recommend this to fiction writers and readers alike.
"And to the end of time, good literature will be made around the notion of a wish."
• The Story - what happens
• The People - to whom the story happens
• The Plot - why the story happens
• Fantasy - element of surprise
• Prophecy - connection to a human experience
• Pattern - atmosphere/theme
• Rhythm - expansion of the theme
This book is based on a series of lectures delivered by Forster in 1927, Ulysses had already been written, but the most unconventional narratives of the post-war, not to mention post-modern, had not, and those narratives challenge some of the rigid notions about plot, story, and pattern of the time. However, it is very interesting to see what the author considered to be indispensable to a well-written book. The notions of flat (comic and caricature) characters versus round (developed and tragic) characters are still relevant to the analysis of fictional characters. I would recommend this to fiction writers and readers alike.
"And to the end of time, good literature will be made around the notion of a wish."