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...

Professor Spurgin, of Lawrence University, traces the novel from its beginnings in the 18th century, when Samuel Richardson penned Pamela, to its culmination in the work of the 20th century Modernists, including Lawrence, Joyce, and Woolf. He also relates plots and characters of particular novels to larger movements in English history. By placing more than two centuries of great English novelists in the context of British history, Professor Spurgin...

Discusses the art of fiction under a wide range of topics, each illustrated by a short passage taken from classic and modern fiction.

Professor Spurgin traces the novel from its beginnings in the 18th century, when Samuel Richardson penned Pamela, to its culmination in the work of the 20th century Modernists, including Lawrence, Joyce, and Woolf. He also relates plots and characters of particular novels to larger movements in English history. By placing more than two centuries of great English novelists in the context of British history, Professor Spurgin shows how their lives...