An Introduction to the English Novel 2. [antikvár]

PREFACE As in the first volume of this little work, I have eschewed comprehensiveness in favour of concentration on a few specific books. My object has been to build a discussion of the development of the modern English novel around the study of a dozen or so novels which have, in their different ways, a more than casual significance. One of the problems of the student of the novel, whether he is the individual 'reader for pleasure' or the member of some kind of educational group, is that novels are often rather long and the discussion of them vaguer than it need be. By concentrating on a few books I have hoped to provide a manageable syllabus for, say, a year or so's reading. Books of cridcism which are not read in conjunction with the work they are discussing nearly always do more harm than good. In venturing to write about contemporary and near-contemporary literature one is obviously laying oneself open to all kinds of difficulties. I make no claim whatever to have given each of the novels I have discussed its correct propordon of space or its ultimate evaluation, though naturally I have tried to concentrate on what seems to me most worth while. I have no doubt at all that I have missed out completely a number of books and writers more worthy of consideration than some I have touched on. Nor do I doubt that some of my judgements will look silly even to myself should I live another forty years. I should like once again to thank the friends who in advice and conversation have given me help, and to express my gradtude to the following individuals and publishing houses for their permission to make numerous quotations: