A Critical View of English Fiction and English Novel

Contents: Preface. 1. Fiction and the novel. 2. The foundation in romance. 3. From Lyly to Swift. 4. The four wheels of the novel. 5. Minor and later 18 century novels. 6. Eighteenth century beginnings with Samuel Richardson. 7. Henry fielding in 18 century. 8. Walter Scott and Miss Austen. 9. Jane Austen's realism. 10. Modern romanticism: Walter Scott. 11. Charles Dickens and his times. 12. William Makepeace Thackeray. 13. Anthony Trollope and others. 14. The successors to Thackeray. 15. The mid-Victorian novel. 16. Onward developments: Smollett, Sterne and others. 17. Tracing the French influence on English fiction. 18. Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot). 19. Thomas Hardy, George Meredith against other contemporaries. 20. R.L. Stevenson and his novels. 21. A summarized conclusion on the Yesterday's fiction. 22. The American contribution to English novel.

"The book traces the history and development of the English prose fiction through various literary movements and important writers of the fiction who have contributed to the enormous body of English fiction. The book travels through the chapters as--Fiction and the Novel, The Foundation in Romance, The Four Wheels of The Novel, Minor and Later 18 Century Novels, Eighteenth Century Beginnings with Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding and later Walter Scott's Romanticism and Jane Austen's realism.

Towards end of the volume where A Summarized Conclusion on the Fiction is drawn, French influences on English Fiction and American Contribution to English Novel are taken into wide consideration.

Throughout the book, it has been the intention to keep steadily before the reader the two main ways of looking at life in fiction, which have led to the realistic and romantic movements. A complete book to critically introduce English Fiction to the students." (jacket)