realize this aspect of composition adequately. Theoreti cally, some important phases of development are new conception or observation, selection, contraction, expansion, verification, movement from the concrete to the general and vice versa, analysis and synthesis. The largest function of synthesis is to unify the entire plan of the novel. The introduction of every new element modifies the value of all that precedes, and partially determines all that follows. Rejection of much material is imperative. Only a small part of what is conceived or imagined is embodied in the novel. In the words of Walter Besant, "thousands of scenes which belong to the story never get outside the writer's brain." (Compare Section 44.) Expansion may appear in simple enlargement of plan, or in increased seriousness of purpose. In writing Joseph Andrews, Fielding largely outgrew his original idea of parody. In Don Quixote, "Cervantes set out to write a comic short story, and the design grew under his hand until at length it included a whole Human Comedy." (FitzmauriceKelly.) In genuine artistic composition, there is probably marked development of illusion. Yet the process may be complicated throughout by changes from imaginative warmth to cold-blooded critical scrutiny and verification. In historical fiction, there is the special problem of subordinating the contemporaneous sense to the historical imagination. To the layman, illusion seems more imperative in some elements than in others. It is difficult to conceive successful conversation written without a lively sense of its reality, but a fairly good description of character or landscape might be achieved simply by force of will. The psychology of composition is so closely connected with style that it may often be advisable to combine the two into one topic of study. 145. Collaboration.1 In the usual sense of the word, collaboration is less common in the novel than in the drama. Any form of plot-literature, however, is better adapted for coöperation than the lyric, in which the unity is so personal and emotional. Literature does not offer the spectacle of a combination of artists, one producing the mental plan, others undertaking the physical execution, as in dramaturgy, architecture, and orchestral music. Examples of novelistic collaboration occur in some works of Stevenson, in the Erckmann-Chatrian partnership, and in the frequent practise of Dumas père. Collaboration in the form of consultation, or in the uninvited assistance of individuals or the public, is not uncommon. (Compare Section 141.) The publisher often has some influence on the composition of a novel. Occasionally the reading public has influenced alteration of titles or catastrophes. Pushkin suggested subjects and titles to Gogol. Of Dead Souls the author says: "Pushkin was its inspiration; and to him I owe the idea and plan." All the copy was submitted to him.2. - Goethe undertook the Wanderjahre upon the advice of Schiller.-Oroonoko is said to have been suggested by Charles the Second. - George Eliot records the influence of Lewes' advice, sometimes in considerable detail. 146. Fragments. The study of a fragment, whether it is a continuous part of the text, or composed of disconnected portions, or mere notes, has special interest in relation to the process of composition. Stevenson left some interesting fragments, and Hawthorne's Dolliver Romance and Septimius Felton make valuable studies of this kind. Note also, Dead Souls, Edwin Drood, and Pausanias. 1 See the essay by Brander Matthews, The Art and Mystery of Collaboration, in The Historical Novel; and Walter Besant's article in The New Review. 2 Turner, p. 162 ff. CHAPTER X THE SHAPING FORCES 147. General Conception. - Purely æsthetic criticism may perhaps neglect the causes that produce a novel, except the individuality of the author, but to historical and sociological criticism these are very important interests. While it is impossible to attain complete scientific analysis, it is always possible to reach some definite results, and speculation as to probable influences at least develops an intimacy with the novel and the environment in which it appeared. In many cases specific lines of influence may be traced, as in the imitation of incident, character, or style in one novel from another; but often one must rest satisfied with more vague conception of large moral and social forces, moulding the general spirit of a work. The influences most readily perceived are not always the most significant. The immediate cause of every novel is the author as an individual, through whom all other forces operate, modified by his character and art. The more remote causes include national and racial spirit, the Zeitgeist, and human nature in general. The author is not necessarily conscious of the chief influences shaping his novel, whether they belong within his own individuality or outside it. Often, however, he is fully aware of them, either allowing them complete sway, or vainly striving to escape them. A reaction against a force is one form of the effect of that force, and examina tion of literary revolt affords good opportunity for a study of this principle. Few of the early realists, for example, escaped a considerable influence, in this manner, from the romantic movement. The modern Russian novelists seem at times to have an almost morbid sense of nationality and race. — American novelists are aware of the national quality in certain types of humor, and in materialistic tendency. - It is possible that the moral hate of injustice, the wilfulness, and the temperamental melancholy in Thomas Hardy are more racial than he himself recognizes. - Probably the critics of the present day see more clearly than the authors saw, the influence of early evangelical belief on George Eliot, and of Puritan inheritance on Hawthorne. 148. The Data. The present study involves a comparison of the content and form of a novel with the nature of the forces known or supposed to influence it. greater the intimacy with the novel, the greater probability of correct tracing of influences, provided that too minute analysis does not destroy general impressions of moral and mental tone. On the other hand, the deeper the acquaintance with the shaping forces, as they operate in all domains, the greater the probability of discovering their effect on an individual novel. Familiarity with the process of composition, and with the author's outer and inner history is clearly requisite. Often the author's own testimony yields direct evidence of influences not otherwise easily detected. The histories of fiction record innumerable examples of the specific influence of one novel or school of novelists on another. Criticism often points out the exact source of details in character, incident, motivation, syntax, rhythm, and vocabulary. Some definite formulas of inheritance have long been established for the greater novels of Europe, but in few cases has the study been exhaustive. There may be a fresher interest, at times, in the examination of a novel whose lineage is still problematic. As suggested in the preceding section, one outside the immediate field of a given influence may sometimes note its working more clearly than one within that field. The student may do well to consult English criticism for the French quality in Balzac, French criticism for the Russian element in Gogol, etc. But there is also a particular interest in tracing the effect on the novel, of forces which are daily moulding one's own ideas and emotions. 149. Individuality of the Author. In comparison with a lyric, a novel usually embodies the general, persistent temperament, character, and philosophy of the author. These influences are perhaps seen most clearly in generic type of subject and in major modes of treatment - the specific themes and the details of form may change with the passing years. Capacity for large generalization, imaginative power, optimistic or pessimistic tendency, sanity or morbidity, misanthropy or warm human sympathy, intellectual or emotional emphasis, and similar characteristics, if not innate, are generally well determined by the time a great novel is produced. These qualities of character have intimate relation to temperament, and temperament undergoes no radical change during a lifetime. A great novel is rarely written before an accumulation of experience so large that little less than a catastrophe can essentially alter its complexion; or before the method of reaction upon experience is well established. Sterne was personally melancholy, abstracted, nervous, "indulging in tears as a habitual luxury" (Masson).· The essential unity of Tolstoi's character can be traced throughout his writings. - Great as are the differences between Werther and Wilhelm Meister, both reveal the artistic temperament, the apostle of culture, and the devotee of intellectual calm. Newman became a Catholic in middle life, and his novels were written after that change of position; but throughout life he was |