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A View of
the Room: The Craft of the Novelist
by
Marilyn Green Faulkner
Most of us
read novels. Over the course of a lifetime you will read many of
them, perhaps without giving much thought to the process. Did you
know that reading novels wasn't always socially acceptable? A student
of literature in George Washington's day didn't read novels, for
they were not considered serious "literature." Such a student would
read history, philosophy, essays by great thinkers, and books on
the various sciences, along with the Bible and attendant commentaries.
Novels were for less educated people, the favorite vice of young
women in drawing rooms. All that changed with the great Victorian
novelists, who raised the form to such a level that by the end of
the 19th century even well educated people considered
novel reading more than just a frivolous past time. There were a
few great novelists who helped establish the novel as an object
of literary study, and one of these was E.M. Forster, the author
of June's book, A Room with a View. In his landmark work,
Aspects of the Novel, he makes this intriguing remark:
"We cannot
understand each other, except in a rough and ready way; we cannot
reveal ourselves, even when we want to; what we call intimacy is
only a makeshift; perfect knowledge is an illusion. But in the novel
we can know people perfectly, and apart from the general pleasure
of reading, we can find here a compensation for their dimness in
life. In this direction fiction is truer than history, because it
goes beyond the evidence, and each of us knows from his own experience
that there is something beyond the evidence, and even if the novelist
has not got it correctly, well-he has tried."
Forster, in
an attempt to show that every great novelist is attempting basically
the same thing, asks us to imagine all of the great writers of history
in a room together, a circular room, and they are grouped in pairs.
Forster goes on to examine their use of the novelist's tools, such
as plot, point of view, and chronology, pairing novelists who use
similar techniques in very different novels. We begin to see that
a great novel is more than just an extended piece of prose fiction,
but a complex work of art that combines poetry of language with
psychological insight and prophetic wisdom. The few authors that
create a truly great novel deserve our serious attention, and add
to our ability to live creative and thoughtful lives. In A Room
with a View, we are able to see the novelist's craft in process,
as Forster was a young man at the time and just beginning to put
his tools to use. It is a pleasure to turn from this early work
to Howard's End and then A Passage to India, and
see this novelist working at the height of his craft. Forster is
always concentrating on the most average of people, who, in his
words, are "too confused to be wicked and too mild to be great.
They are simply people." People like most of us.
Best
Books Club Selection for July: The Keys of the Kingdom,
by A.J. Cronin
People of my
parents' generation read A.J. Cronin's books. They were bestsellers
during the years around World War II. They are not old enough, and
perhaps not great enough to be listed among the classics of literature,
but Cronin is a fine novelist with an inspiring perspective. His
novels portray ordinary men who attempt to live honest and true
lives in a world filled with cruelty and deceit. In the words of
one critic, "His favorite theme was that man should learn to be
creative rather than acquisitive, altruistic rather than selfish."
The Keys
of the Kingdom tells the story of Father Francis Chisholm,
a Scottish orphan who becomes a Priest and spends most of his life
as a missionary in China. His experiences there are those of the
most ordinary man who has an extra-ordinary commitment to the principles
of Christianity. Of course, a true Christian will not tend to be
popular, or politically successful in his church, or even well respected
by many people. But the follower of Christ sees in this humble Priest
the image of a more perfect countenance, and we grow to love him.
If you like this novel I would also recommend a wonderful work by
Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop.
The Keys
of the Kingdom is July's selection for the Best Books Club,
and later this month I'll tell you more about A.J. Cronin's fascinating
life. I received only a couple of comments about A Room with
a View. Here they are:
I have always
loved this book. What a delightful read. My favorite part is when,
after everyone has been looking at nearly everything there is to
be seen in Italy, George Emerson quotes his father saying, "The
best view is straight up." Hah!
And didn't
you love Daniel Day Lewis's depiction of Cecil in the film? He moved
like a wooden puppet. So perfect for Cecil.
Thanks for
reminding me of what a fun ride Forster has given us in this novel.
—Terry
How interesting
it is to be able to look through other peoples' eyes at some of
the great books. Forster is a particularly interesting example of
this. An Englishman, writing mostly for a local British audience
at the beginning of a momentous century for Britain and the British
Empire, with all the seeds of self-destruction showing to the discerning
eye. Forster dresses these seeds in a romanticism which is endearing
to the to the reader who has no great interest about the picture
of self destruction, large or small, looming on the horizon, and
probably accounts for his popularity in the English speaking world.
Here we have
with Forster a writer gifted enough to write simultaneously at two
levels, and he joins the ranks of Lewis Carrol, A.A. Milne, and
Kenneth Grahame with this rare and unusual gift.
Thank you for
making this possible. —Phil
Readers
continue to write in about The Chosen, our selection for May:
The Chosen
was a book I was happy to read. I lived across the street from a
family of Jews in my teen years. Became friends and their steady
baby sitter. They even drove some distance to get me when they moved.
During that time I just realized they had some holidays I didn't
know about. Years later due to the military I lived in Germany and
we had a small Branch of service men. One bore his testimony one
Sunday. He told us how his parents hadn't wanted him to join the
Latter Day Saint religion. He didn't want to go against his parents,
but felt strongly that L.D.S. church and its teachings were right.
What I have never forgotten is when he told us that in a New York
cemetery there is a grave with his name on the head stone. As far
as his parents are concerned he died when he left the Jewish religion.
With this background I found reading about Danny and Reuven interesting.
It added greatly to what knowledge I had. —Donna
I finished
reading The Chosen a couple of days ago, and I'm trying
to figure out what Potok was getting at with his symbolism of the
eyes. First, Reuven is hit in the eye and hurt, and Mr. Savo lost
his eye, then Billy wasn't able to get his eyesight back. And, as
the stress builds up for Danny, he has trouble with his vision and
blinking. I keep thinking about the eyes. Could it be a theme of
having your eyes opened? The characters certainly grew in their
understanding of each other and themselves.
Also, Danny's
father used silence to open up his son's soul and to help him "see".
And, in the end, Danny could "see" why. What do you think, Marilyn?
—Elizabeth
Marilyn's
response: I think Elizabeth points out an important use of
symbolism in this novel. Potok is trying to reach us on a deeper
level than just talking to us about the difficulties of living within
a proscribed religious faith. He uses the symbolism of the blind
boy to alert us both to Reuven's and Danny's condition, since symbols
engage our creativity as well as our conscious thoughts. Prior to
their meeting in the hospital, neither Danny nor Reuven has ever
seen beyond his own group, and both are about to have their eyes
opened, just as the little boy hopes to do. It is an interesting
note that the boy's surgery is unsuccessful. Can we ever truly see
the perspective of another? Certainly we must continue to try. —MGF
In August
we will be reading Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. A few
readers are already getting excited about it:
I just went
to the used Paperback Bookstore and bought 3 copies of Huckleberry
Finn to go with our home copy. All four of us are going to
read it as a family. I don't know if we will finish in one month
but I'll let you know our family's comments and experience doing
it. —Wendy
A couple months
ago, I was in Hannibal, Mo, standing in front of the Clemens' home.
I could look down the street to the river and then just down the
block and to the left was that tree-covered hill where little Sam
Clemens romped. What a perfect place for a kid to grow up. I pledged
to re-discover Twain. Oh dear. Maybe with your encouragement I can
re-pledge the pledge. —Terry
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