E. M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel

Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

A series of Clark Lectures given at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the year after T. S. Eliot had delivered them,

Aspects of the Novel

(1927) was written after Forster had finished with novel writing. It is an idiosyncratic survey of fiction from Defoe to Joyce. The lectures were delivered between January and March 1927 and were less academic expositions than one author's perspective on literary history, style and form. One attendee, F. R. Leavis, found them “intellectually null”, but they were a great success. On the strength of the lectures, King's College offered Forster a three-year fellowship, which he accepted.

Forster defines the novel as any work of prose fiction, and he discusses it in terms of character, plot, fantasy, symbolism, pattern and rhythm, in which the most

307 words

Citation: Childs, Peter. "Aspects of the Novel". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6532, accessed 19 March 2024.]

6532 Aspects of the Novel 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.