Standard Ebooks

Aspects of the Novel

E. M. Forster

Description

“I am annoyed when people laugh at me for loving The Swiss Family Robinson, and I hope that I have annoyed some of you over Scott!” Anyone attempting an analysis and evaluation of novels inevitably runs the risk of upsetting those with different literary tastes. E. M. Forster, in his 1927 Clark Lectures, embraced this challenge in this personal yet seminal account of the English novel.

The previous decade had seen a number of significant contributions to literary criticism of the novel, and Forster engages with a number of them in his lectures. Yet most of these have been forgotten, while Forster’s Aspects of the Novel remains in print, with a new edition introduced by Frank Kermode appearing as recently as 2005. The continuing appeal is not simply Forster’s elegant prose, nor his engaging, conversational tone, nor yet the frisson of his many judgments on well-known books and contemporary authors. Rather, the work has proved seminal for Forster’s selection of “aspects,” and the clarity and cogency of his analysis.

Contemporary reviews and reactions to his published lectures tended to decry his insights as limited to his own practice as a leading novelist. With the benefit of hindsight, more recent critics recognize the way in which Forster’s account of the novel has shaped the development of its study in the 20th century and beyond. As Aspects of the Novel approaches its centenary, it enjoys an established place as a classic of literary criticism.

Read free

This ebook is thought to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. It may still be under copyright in other countries. If you’re not located in the United States, you must check your local laws to verify that this ebook is free of copyright restrictions in the country you’re located in before accessing, downloading, or using it.

Download for ereaders

Read online

A brief history of this ebook

  1. Finish metadata and initial publication

  2. Tweak CSS

  3. Remove unused se-lint-ignore.xml file

  4. Update files to new standards

  5. Tweak long description

More details

Sources

Transcriptions

Page scans

Improve this ebook

Anyone can contribute to make a Standard Ebook better for everyone!

To report typos, typography errors, or other corrections, see how to report errors.

If you’re comfortable with technology and want to contribute directly, check out this ebook’s GitHub repository and our contributors section.

You can also donate to Standard Ebooks to help fund continuing improvement of this and other ebooks.