Advance of the English Novel

by William Lyon Phelps

A scholarly review of the beginning, development, and current status of fiction, this conversational 1916 book spans two centuries of literary development. Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, Sterne, the eighteenth century, and the Romantic Revival are all discussed here, as well as the Victorians--with emphasis on contemporary artists such as Meredith, Conrad, Hardy, Galsworthy, Henry James, and other twentieth-century British and American novelists.

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

334 pages, Hardcover

First published December 28, 2007

About the author

Professor of English at Yale University, 1892-1933.

Reviews

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the oldest books in my TBR pile, by which I mean that it was published first in 1915 and I've had it so long I kept forgetting what it looking like. But I unearthed it this week and I'm glad I did. I was a little afraid it would be dry and technical, but it was neither. It reads more like conversation, except for some lengthy quotes here and there, and it's surprisingly fun.

Phelps discusses the development of the novel, from the days of Swift, Defoe, and Sterne, and ends around the first World War. He definitely has his favorites and his hates, but that makes it fun to read. I can't agree with him at all on Henry James, who I think is boring beyond belief, and he practically ignored Mark Twain, but I found several in here I want to find. He seemed to be off quite a bit with his picks for best writers of his own day, given that I hadn't even heard of the majority of them. It reminds me of something I heard once about how small the number was of writers whose fame outlasted their own lifetimes.