Aspects of the Novel
E. M. Forster 1927
These lectures examine how novels work, from storytelling to the people who fill their pages. Forster distinguishes between flat and round characters, showing why some surprise us while others remain familiar.
171 pages 3h 19m reading time
- One of the most widely read books ever written about the craft of fiction.
- Argues that story, the simple "and then what happened?" that keeps us reading, is the backbone of every novel, even though Forster wishes it were not.
- Separates story from plot by showing that "the king died and then the queen died" is a story, while "the king died, and then the queen died of grief" is a plot, because it adds a reason.
- Its terms "flat" and "round" characters became standard words for talking about fiction and are still taught in schools and writing classes today.
- Its friendly, conversational style showed that serious thinking about novels could be written for everyday readers, not only for experts.
Written by a retired novelist
Forster gave these talks three years after A Passage to India, the last novel he published while alive.
Began as Cambridge talks
The book started as the Clark Lectures, a series of talks Forster gave at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1927.
Kept the speaking voice
Forster kept much of the chatty feel of the spoken lectures when he turned them into a book.
Virginia Woolf pushed back
His friend Virginia Woolf reviewed it and complained that it did not treat fiction seriously enough as an art.