Aspects of the Novel

Forster repeatedly argues that the novel is the most human of all the arts. It is based on the simple story, which is the most primitive form of human communication. In this way, the novel reaches back to the instinctual human need for connection. Its primitive origin keeps the novel grounded in day-to-day human lives and interactions rather than soaring to the heights achievable by more abstract art forms. However, that very grounding also establishes a foundation from which the novel can affect humanity more profoundly than other art forms. Since the novel concerns itself with human behavior, thought, action, and nature, it has the power to affect people. Throughout Aspects of the Novel, Forster focuses on the humanity inherent in the art form of the novel, which speaks to its power beyond entertainment or communication.

The novel’s focus on human lives and interactions is highlighted in Forster’s discussion of people—specifically in his distinction between real people and the people in novels, or characters. He says the biggest difference between characters and real people is that characters can focus on the emotions and actions that transcend simple bodily needs. The primary examples of this are the elements of life that are generally absent from the novel—chiefly food and sleep, in Forster’s discussion. Although food certainly exists in novels, he says it satisfies social and emotional needs instead of primarily serving to satisfy physical needs; usually, foods consumed in a novel have a metaphorical purpose that serves the plot or character development. Likewise, in novels, sleep usually serves the function of dreams that metaphorically echo the novel’s themes or the character’s emotional and intellectual journey, rather than existing to provide rest and recuperation. Still, Forster says, “Since the novelist is himself a human being, there is an affinity between him and his subject matter which is absent in many other forms of art” (70). Even when human behaviors—like eating and sleeping—serve metaphorical purposes in the novel, they are still familiar behaviors to the reader. Moreover, the novels focus minimally on humans’ physical needs so they can focus on the interiority of characters, who, like the novelist and readers, are human. Of course, other artists are also human, but the subject of a poem, a piece of music, or visual art is generally not only a human character, even if a person is part of the subject of the piece. In contrast, the space of a novel allows a novelist to pursue an entire life—Forster gives the example of Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders—and fully mine that life for the profundity of human nature and experience.

In the process of defining the novel and explaining its structure and function, Forster compares the novel to other art forms to distinguish it from these, and he argues that it is the best at relaying the human experience. Although he touches on poetry, music, and visual art, the primary form he compares to the novel is drama. Both literary forms focus on the actions of people, have a plot and a story, and need characters to function. However, drama is less focused on human nature and human experience than the novel. On the one hand, Forster says that “the novel is not capable of as much artistic development as the drama: its humanity or the grossness of its material hinder it” (234). Drama is written for the stage, and the spatial distance between the audience and the actors resists the reproduction of actual human experience. Forster says that drama is more pristine and beautiful than the novel since it is obviously more artistic rather than mimetic. However, in his discussion of plot, Forster points out that: “The drama may look towards the pictorial arts, it may allow Aristotle to discipline it, for it is not so deeply committed to the claims of human beings” (241). Since drama is more structured and artistic, it contains less room for the realism of human experience. Although it may be more overtly beautiful, drama lacks the space the novel has for probing the messy conflicts in human nature and thought.

At the conclusion of Aspects of the Novel, Forster’s thoughts turn to the future of the novel, arguing that its inherent humanity will win it a place at the top of all art forms. He says: “If human nature does alter it will be because individuals manage to look at themselves in a new way. Here and there people—a very few people, but a few novelists are among them—are trying to do this” (245). He believes that the novel and the novelist are so intrinsically connected to humanity that they have the potential to transform human nature and improve it. He says that art—and, in particular, the novel, which is the most human of all art forms—could tap into and therefore fundamentally advance human nature itself. He goes on to say that if he could take a long view of history, he would see that “the development of the novel” would “[imply] the development of humanity” (246-247).