About the Book: First time in Black Classics for this classic critque of the art of the novel, but one of its greatest practitioners. Collection of literary lectures by E.M. Forster, published in 1927. For the purposes of his study, Forster defines the novel as “any fictitious prose work over 50,000 words.” Forester’s wit and lively, informed originality have made this study of the novel a classic. Avoiding the chronological approach of what he calls “pseudoscholarship,” Forster freely examines elements that all English-language novels have in common- story, people, plot, fantasy, prophecy, pattern and rhythm.