Aspects of the Novel

Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster is considered a seminal work of literary criticism that demystifies the form of the novel as it was understood in the early 20th century. The book is adapted from a series of informal lectures Forster delivered in 1927 at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. Forster was an accomplished novelist as well as a critic, known for the novels Howard’s End and Passage to India, among others. Aspects of the Novel presents a picture of the form and function of the novel told with a writer’s experience and attitude. It offers a perspective of literary criticism that embraces creativity in addition to a scholarly understanding of the novel.

This guide references the 1927 Harcourt Brace edition.

Summary

Aspects of the Novel opens by acknowledging that the book is adapted from a lecture series. In the introduction, Forster says he intends to discuss novels from the previous 200 years, primarily from England, though he does touch on French and Russian novels where appropriate. He defines the novel as a work of at least 50,000 words, and he clarifies that the novel is also neither history nor poetry. Although Forster’s discussion of the novel has chronological bookends, he insists that only a “real” scholar can fully consider time as a context in the discussion of literature. Instead, he claims to be a pseudo-scholar who lacks this specialized knowledge. He says that for the purpose of this discussion, his audience must envision a round room where all the novelists of the past 200 years are writing simultaneously. To enhance that image, he offers several pairs of novel excerpts to compare without context, and it becomes clear that even novels written 150 years apart can sound remarkably similar.

Forster organizes his discussion in essentially three parts based on the types of aspects he explores: Story, People, and Plot; Fantasy and Prophecy; and finally, Pattern and Rhythm. His definition and discussion of story challenges widely-held notions of what a story is. Forster notably separates story from plot. According to him, story is a sequence of events and it only answers the question “What happened?” Plot, on the other hand, is the cause-and-effect element that answers “why” something happened. Forster says the story is the most primitive element of literature in general and of the novel in particular. Throughout the book, Forster follows a pattern of defining the aspect he’s discussing and then explaining what that aspect requires of the reader; finally, he discusses what the aspect accomplishes for the finished work. Story only requires curiosity on the part of the reader—just as the story is the most primitive element of the novel, it only requires the most primitive response. Although story requires little from writer or reader, it is a necessity for the novel as it grounds the novel in chronological time and allows for the pursuit of value.

Forster then moves from story to people. Although his discussion is focused on characters in novels, his points about people reflect a deeper theme that recurs throughout the work: The Innate Humanity of the Novel. Novels, he argues, are more concerned with humanity and human beings than any other art form, including any other type of literature. In a novel, the writer must channel his connection to other human beings. The people in a novel are obviously not real people; yet, they must recall real people and evoke belief and connection in the reader. In service of this, Forster describes the similarities and differences between characters and real people. For instance, while real people spend a third of their lives sleeping, sleep in novels is usually focused on dreams that metaphorically echo the novel’s themes. Also, while a remarkable amount of real human activity focuses on food, in novels, food is usually only an excuse for social interactions.

Throughout the book, Forster turns to specific novels to illustrate his points and provide textual evidence. To illuminate the function of characters within novels, Forster discusses the work of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Defoe’s Moll Flanders. Moll Flanders is a novel about a single character; her life and experiences are the entire content of the novel. Forster contrasts the novel entirely focused on one character with Austen’s ability to weave characters together and into the plot to achieve a unified whole. A comparison of Dickens and Austen allows Forster to explain one of his most well-known ideas: the distinction between flat and round characters. A flat character is essentially one-dimensional while a round character is complex and changes over the course of the novel. Forster argues that both types of characters are necessary in a novel because the flat characters can embody important individual ideas and can support the development of round characters.

Forster’s then goes on to discuss of plot. The difference between plot and story is that plot requires intelligence and memory to probe its mystery while story only requires curiosity to anticipate the resolution of suspense. The plot, therefore, is concerned with reasons for actions, not simply the actions themselves. The challenge of crafting a good plot in a novel involves the innate conflict between creating compelling characters whose lives resist a tidy plot, and the necessity to finish the novel and bring the plot to a satisfying close without appearing contrived.

The major structural elements of a novel are story, people, and plot. However, the art of a novel transcends structure and requires more than satisfied curiosity or an unfolded mystery. Forster posits that the elements of a novel that tap into the profundity of existence are fantasy and prophecy. Fantasy is the depiction of the impossible, which requires the reader to suspend their disbelief. Although fantasy directly involves the impossible, it doesn’t necessarily require overt supernatural imagery—any element of the impossible can evoke fantasy. Prophecy, on the other hand, is a tone of majesty akin to the intensity of major religions. Prophetic novels don’t predict the future; instead, their authors inhabit the role of deity as they craft a world that only contains important stories, plots, and people. Fantasy and prophecy allow novels to transcend human experience while remaining firmly rooted in human understanding.

The final chapter of the book focuses on aspects of the novel that create an aesthetic experience: pattern and rhythm. Pattern is the overall shape of the novel and is the element of the novel most like visual art. The pattern is largely a feature of the plot, but it rises beyond the plot to provide deep satisfaction to the reader. Rhythm is the musicality of the novel. The rhythm is developed through repetition of images, but it is constrained to what Forster calls the small rhythm akin to the start of a piece of music, rather than the grand rhythm of an entire symphony. Forster closes the novel with a look to the future of the novel and humanity—he returns to his initial image of the circular room containing all of history’s novelists. He adds the novelists of the future to this room and says that the nature of humanity itself can change; if it does, it is likely that one of the architects will be a novelist.