What's in a Novel

THIS book has been written in the conviction that contemporary fiction, as a great pervasive medium of public education and enlightenment, deserves fuller recognition and more constructive utilization than it usually receives. The author is not concerned with artistic values but with factual indication of substance, purpose, and effect. Her material is drawn mainly from the novels of the last ten years. She discusses the novel of individual character and family life; the fictional biography; the treatment of economic, social, industrial and international problems: regional and historical fiction: the imaginative romance; and the novel of mystery and “thrill.” In every case the author’s aim is to indicate the practical values of informational background and social significance, and to note “the reading relationships which link modern fiction to the materials of knowledge in every field.”She illustrates, for instance, how Thomas Mann’s “Joseph” series, in addition to its creative vigor, can bring to the reader specific historical knowledge, a taste of philosophic discussion, and “a reading relationship that ranges from primitive religion and Egyptian archaeology to Biblical history and modern psychology.”

The book will not interest those who look first in a novel for literary distinction, but it is full of informative and intelligent discussion of the world we live in as revealed in its novels. E. D.