A great deal of energy has been spent in talking and writing about 'the form of the modern novel,' largely, I think, because it has ceased to have a form in close technical terms. In the West it has evolved from being written in the form of letters, and thence widened to various fashionable arrangements — the three volume novel, the serial novel, the first person narrative, etc — but these methods are really only like clothes: their appearance constantly changes, but their aims and functions are the same. At no time have women wanted their clothes to be entirely unattractive; at no time have novelists wanted their novels to be entirely unreadable; the failures in either respect have certainly not been calculated. There have been passing phases [in] which women have wanted to look fecund or consumptive, like lampshades or young boys: there have been equivalent phases when novelists have wanted to preach, to whine, to show off or to argue; but these marks are made on the sand at a low tide of creative energy, and are soon covered by a fresh wave. It is in fact possible to write a book today about almost anything in any manner one pleases; it is as necessary as ever it was to choose the best way of saying whatever it is one wants to say, and sometimes, when this is achieved, the work can surpass fashionable interest and reach points of quality beyond contemporary record… I want a book, whatever its kind, to show me something that I haven't perceived or known or understood before — otherwise it is a mere roughage of words and makes me think of goats chewing up panama hats and tin cans.
'Reading and Reviewing' [Queen, March 1959]
'Reading and Reviewing' [Queen, March 1959]
Use the link below to read an interview with British novelist ELIZABETH JANE HOWARD (1923–2014):
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