may end as well as begin with this dramatic addition to the story proper; as does, for example, The Heart of Midlothian.

The "single novel" may be a member of a group, which must be examined if one is fully to comprehend the isolated member. A familiar example of the grouping of a number of single compositions into a larger whole is found in the so-called "frame." This form has been most frequently used in the short story, notably in the famous examples of the Decameron, Heptameron, Canterbury Tales, etc., but it is occasionally found in the novel.

Scott partially carries out the "frame" idea in his Tales of My Landlord. The "frame," in this case, includes several minor characters, as well as the principal ones - Jedediah Cleishbotham and Peter Pattieson and a number of interesting incidents and settings. An example of a long fiction belonging to a larger non-fictive whole is Paul and Virginia, composed as one of Saint-Pierre's "Studies of Nature." This famous idyl can, to say the least, be better understood if one has some acquaintance with the "whole composition," of which it is in a sense a part. One of the most interesting examples of a fictive composition including an expanded part essentially non-fictive is Robinson Crusoe. To most readers, Robinson Crusoe means what Defoe finally considered only the first of three parts of that work.

In some cases, to give variety and scope to the study, one may take as the unit of analysis, not a single novel, but a group of related novels. These are properly one composition only when they were so intended by the author himself; but this is not a rare case in the history of the novel. The degree of unity in such series, in characters, plot, settings, etc., is very various. In regular "duodrama," trilogy, or tetralogy, a very high degree of unity may be found, worthy of close examination.

One form with less definitely planned unity is that of the simple continuation, frequently suggested by another than the novelist, after the publication of the first part, as in Pamela, Don Quixote, etc. Some

times such continuation has been forced upon the author by a spurious one. Continuation by another than the original author offers interesting material for study of the process of composition.

Larger groups may be called series, or cycles. Their organization is sometimes quite complex, as in what is probably the supreme example, the Comédie Humaine of Balzac. For special purposes still looser groups may be studied together: as a novel and its imitations, for example, Robinson Crusoe and the "Robinsonades" of German fiction; or a work and burlesques upon it, as Pamela and Joseph Andrews, the romances of chivalry and Don Quixote, Gothic romances and Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.

EXAMPLES OF NOVELISTIC GROUPS. - Dualogy: Valdés-Riverita, Maximina; Goethe-Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre and Wanderjahre. Trilogy: Scott Waverley, Guy Mannering, Antiquary (see advertisement to last, 1829); Zola-Lourdes, Rome, Paris; Sienkiewicz - With Fire and Sword, The Deluge, Pan Michael; d'Annunzio-Romances of the Lily; in some sense the novels of Richardson. Series: FreytagDie Ahnen; Zola — The Rougon-Macquart novels; Trollope — Chronicles of Barsetshire. Cycle: Balzac - Comédie Humaine; Waverley Novels. (For grouping in Scott's mind, see his own introductions.)

Even when the composition is a single novel, it may contain an intercalated story that is æsthetically quite independent (Don Quixote, Gil Blas, Tom Jones, Tale of Two Cities, etc.). A unique example of intercalation is the complete drama in Ziegler's Asiatische Banise.

5. The Title. In the introduction of 1829 to Rob Roy, Scott, speaking of the title, says, "A good name [is] very nearly of as much consequence in literature as in life." (Compare Chapter I of Waverley.) In the introduction of 1830 to Ivanhoe, he states the theory that a title should conceal the nature of the composition; yet

probably the most natural function of a title is to express in some manner the main theme of the novel. It may refer more particularly to characters, settings, or action; it may be realistic, romantic, impressionistic, etc. A title often has some special significance not apparent on the surface. Note, for example, Joseph Andrews, Sense and Sensibility, Nouvelle Héloïse, Turgenieff's On the Eve, Comédie Humaine.

The titles of English sentimental fiction toward the close of the eighteenth century include: Sentimental Tales, The Tears of Sensibility, The Man of Feeling, The Effusions of the Heart, and many others of like nature. Characteristic of nineteenth century realism are such titles as A Modern Instance (Howells), A Common Story (Gontcharoff), One of Life's Slaves (Lie), Life's Little Ironies (Thomas Hardy).

In form, a title may be single or double; thematic or analytical; purely individual, or including a type word or phrase. Of such type words story, novel, romance, adventures, history, life, etc., are common examples.

Adventures is a common type word in the novel of action, occurring in Smollett frequently, in Robinson Crusoe, Joseph Andrews, Oliver Twist, Kidnapped, etc. History has been common since Painter wrote (preface to The Palace of Pleasure, 1565) of "histories, which, by another term, I call novels." It was specially frequent in the latter part of the eighteenth century; "secret history" being a somewhat characteristic variation.

An old-fashioned artificial device is the repetition of the title at the end of the novel, used some half-dozen times by Scott, and in Soll und Haben. Titles of the subdivisions of structure are often important.

6. Length of Composition. Recent criticism has emphasized the idea that the difference between the modern short story and the novel is not primarily one of length. Still it is true that marked variation in length implies æsthetic difference in the fictions themselves, the process

of composition, and the effect on the reader. Silas Marner and War and Peace may both be called novels; but the fact that the former contains about seventy-five thousand words and the latter about seven hundred thousand concerns every important aspect of the two works. The mere labor of writing and reading the heroic romances - those fictions à longue haleine—is indicative of significant social conditions during the period of their popularity. Richardson was fully conscious of the great length of his novels, and offers apology or explanations therefor.

The length of a novel may be given in pages, but the approximate length in words is more convenient for purposes of comparison, especially with compositions in verse. A classification for practical purposes may follow some such outline as this: :

Minor Novel. From 50,000 to 125,000 words. Silas Marner, 75,000; Scarlet Letter, 70,000.

Paradise Lost contains about 85,000 words; the Divine Comedy about 100,000.

Medium Novel. 125,000 to 250,000 words. Mrs. Radcliffe's Romance of the Forest, 130,000; Adam Bede, 200,000.

Major Novel. 250,000 to 500,000 words. David Copperfield,

340,000; Daniel Deronda, 320,000.

Maximum Novel. More than 500,000 words. War and Peace, 700,000; Clarissa Harlowe, 800,000; Madelaine de Scudéry's Grand Cyrus, 1,800,000.

The entire Comédie Humaine contains something like 4,000,000 words: The Waverley Novels are about the same length.

7. Principal Divisions of a Novel. In a typical novel these are the chapter and paragraph: in longer fictions, the part, volume, and book are frequently added. The epistolary novel often has no further divisions than the letters themselves, frequently given with separate numbers or headings.

The narrative quality of Defoe's novels is emphasized by his habitual limitation to the paragraph. Clara Reeve's Old English Baron and

41

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to quote chapter and book

Brooke's Juliet Grenville are other examples of undivided eighteenth century novels. Scott invariably uses the chapter and rarely a higher division, though he is fond of dramatic prefaces, postscripts, etc. Dickens generally has only chapter divisions.

In one fiction or another nearly every possible method of division is found. Verri's Notti Romane, nights, colloquies; White's Earl Strongbow, nights; Leland's Longsword, sections; Gogol's Dead Souls, epic cantos; Sarah Fielding and Jane Collier's The Cry, scenes.

8. Volume, Part, and Book. When a mere accident of publication, the volume has no artistic significance, but it is often a genuine unit of structure, sometimes with separate title. When both part and book are used, the former is generally the major division. The book is found in the Greek romances, as one of the results of epic influence, and has since been associated with the theory of the novel as the modern epic. Fielding divided all his novels into books, establishing a temporary precedent so strong that the preface to The Cry (1754) refers to "the common divisions of book and chapter." Mrs. Radcliffe returned to a simple chapter division. There is sometimes a high degree of unity in these larger divisions, in characters, theme, setting, or action. There may be a distinct dramatic line. Sometimes there is a more external unity; as of epistolary structure, Balzac's Deputy for Arcis, or of intercalated narrative, Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, Book VI.

Balzac frequently uses parts (A Woman of Thirty, Lost Illusions, etc.), and in general a somewhat complicated division. Parts are found in Zola's Downfall and The Soil, Scarron's Roman Comique, Nouvelle Héloïse, George Sand's Lélia and Indiana, and many other well-known fictions. James. Authward Age

Books are used in Esmond, Corinne, Amadis of Gaul, Wilhelm Meister, Notre Dame de Paris, Hall Caine's The Manxman, Daniel Deronda, Tale of Two Cities, etc. The epic number twelve is found in Gil Blas, Amelia, and Grave's Spiritual Quixote. Jus 19mbassads

1 Probably written by Miss Fielding.