The Appropriate Form

In this substantial essay on the novel (first published in 1964) Barbara Hardy distinguishes three integral aspects of the art of fiction story, the working-out of a moral problem, and truthfulness, defined as the lively representation of reality. From this standpoint she discusses and elucidates some characteristic excellences and limitations of a number of major novels and novelists, including Defoe, Charlotte Bront, George Eliot, Meredith, James, Hardy, E. M. Forster, and D. H. Lawrence.