Chapter I: Introduction: xiii

I. THE PURPOSE OF FICTION 3
Fiction a Means of Telling Truth--Fact and
Fiction--Truth and Fact--The Search for Truth--The
Necessary Triple Process--Different Degrees of
Emphasis--The Art of Fiction and the Craft of
Chemistry--Fiction and Reality--Fiction and
History--Fiction and Biography--Biography,
History, and Fiction--Fiction Which Is
True--Fiction Which Is False--Casual Sins against
the Truth in Fiction--More Serious Sins against the
Truth--The Futility of the Adventitious--The
Independence of Created Characters--Fiction More
True Than a Casual Report of Fact--The Exception
and the Law--Truthfulness the only Title to
Immortality--Morality and Immorality in Fiction--The
Faculty of Wisdom--Wisdom and Technic--General
and Particular Experience--Extensive and Intensive
Experience--The Experiencing Nature--Curiosity and
Sympathy.

II. REALISM AND ROMANCE 25
Two Methods of Exhibiting the Truth--Every Mind Either
Realistic or Romantic--Marion Crawford's Faulty
Distinction--A Second Unsatisfactory Distinction--A
Third Unsatisfactory Distinction--Bliss Perry's
Negative Definition--The True Distinction One of
Method, Not of Material--Scientific Discovery and
Artistic Expression--The Testimony of Hawthorne--A
Philosophic Formula--Induction and Deduction--The
Inductive Method of the Realist--The Deductive
Method of the Romantic--Realism, Like Inductive
Science, a Strictly Modern Product--Advantages of
Realism--Advantages of Romance--The Confinement of
Realism--The Freedom of Romance--Neither Method
Better Than the Other--Abuses of Realism--Abuses of
Romance.

III. THE NATURE OF NARRATIVE 44
Transition from Material to Method--The Four Methods
of Discourse--1. Argumentation; 2. Exposition;
3. Description; 4. Narration, the Natural Mood
of Fiction--Series and Succession--Life Is
Chronological, Art Is Logical--The Narrative
Sense--The Joy of Telling Tales--The Missing of
This Joy--Developing the Sense of Narrative--The
Meaning of the Word "Event"--How to Make Things
Happen--The Narrative of Action--The Narrative
of Character--Recapitulation.

IV. PLOT 60
Narrative a Simplification of Life--Unity in
Narrative--A Definite Objective Point--Construction,
Analytic and Synthetic--The Importance of
Structure--Elementary Narrative--Positive and
Negative Events--The Picaresque Pattern--Definition
of Plot--Complication of the Network--The Major
Knot--"Beginning, Middle, and End"--The
Sub-Plot--Discursive and Compacted
Narratives--Telling Much or Little of a Story--Where
to Begin a Story--Logical Sequence and Chronological
Succession--Tying and Untying--Transition to the
Next Chapter.

V. CHARACTERS 77
Characters Should Be Worth Knowing--The Personal
Equation of the Audience--The Universal Appeal
of Great Fictitious Characters--Typical
Traits--Individual Traits--The Defect of
Allegory--The Defect of Caricature--Static and
Kinetic Characters--Direct and Indirect
Delineation--Subdivisions of Both Methods--I.
Direct Delineation: 1. By Exposition; 2. By
Description; [Gradual Portrayal]; 3. By
Psychological Analysis; 4. By Reports from other
Characters--II. Indirect Delineation: 1. By Speech;
2. By Action; 3. By Effect on other Characters; 4.
By Environment.

VI. SETTING 99
Evolution of Background in the History of
Painting--The First Stage--The Second Stage--The
Third Stage--Similar Evolution of Setting in the History
of Fiction: The First Stage--The Second Stage--The
Third Stage: 1. Setting as an Aid to Action--2.
Setting as an Aid to Characterization--Emotional
Harmony in Setting--The Pathetic Fallacy--Emotional
Contrast in Setting--Irony in Setting--Artistic and
Philosophical Employment--1. Setting as a Motive
toward Action--2. Setting as an Influence on
Character--Setting as the Hero of the
Narrative--Uses of the Weather--Romantic and
Realistic Settings--A Romantic Setting by Edgar
Allan Poe--A Realistic Setting by George
Eliot--The Quality of Atmosphere, or Local
Color--Recapitulation.

VII. THE POINT OF VIEW IN NARRATIVE 120
The Importance of the Point of View--Two Classes, The
Internal and the External--I. Subdivisions of the
First Class: 1. The Point of View of the Leading
Actor; 2. The Point of View of Some Subsidiary
Actor; 3. The Points of View of Different Actors; 4.
The Epistolary Point of View.--II. Subdivisions of
the Second Class:--1. The Omniscient Point of View;
2. The Limited Point of View; 3. The Rigidly
Restricted Point of View--Two Tones of Narrative,
Impersonal and Personal: 1. The Impersonal Tone; 2.
The Personal Tone--The Point of View as a Factor in
Construction--The Point of View as the Hero of the
Narrative.

VIII. EMPHASIS IN NARRATIVE 139
Essential and Contributory Features--Art Distinguishes
Between the Two by Emphasis--Many Technical Devices:
1. Emphasis by Terminal Position; 2. Emphasis by
Initial Position; 3. Emphasis by Pause [Further
Discussion of Emphasis by Position]; 4. Emphasis by
Direct Proportion; 5. Emphasis by Inverse
Proportion; 6. Emphasis by Iteration; 7. Emphasis by
Antithesis; 8. Emphasis by Climax; 9. Emphasis by
Surprise; 10. Emphasis by Suspense; 11. Emphasis by
Imitative Movement.

IX. THE EPIC, THE DRAMA, AND THE NOVEL 157
Fiction a Generic Term--Narrative in Verse and Narrative
in Prose--Three Moods of Fiction: I. The Epic
Mood--II. The Dramatic Mood: 1. Influence of the
Actor; 2. Influence of the Theatre; 3. Influence of
the Audience--[Dramatized Novels]--III. The
Novelistic Mood.

X. THE NOVEL, THE NOVELETTE, AND THE SHORT-STORY 172
Novel, Novelette, and Short-Story--The Novel and the
Novelette--The Short-Story a Distinct Type--The
Dictum of Poe--The Formula of Brander
Matthews--Definition of the Short-Story--Explanation
of This Definition: 1. "Single Narrative Effect"; 2.
"Greatest Economy of Means"; and 3. "Utmost
Emphasis"--Brief Tales That Are Not
Short-Stories--Short-Stories That Are Not
Brief--Bliss Perry's Annotations--The Novelist and
the Writer of Short-Stories--The Short-Story More
Artistic Than the Novel--The Short-Story Almost
Necessarily Romantic.

XI. THE STRUCTURE OF THE SHORT-STORY 189
Only One Best Way to Construct a Short-Story--Problems
of Short-Story Construction--The Initial
Position--The Terminal Position--Poe's Analysis of
"The Raven"--Analysis of "Ligeia"--Analysis of "The
Prodigal Son"--Style Essential to the Short-Story.

XII. THE FACTOR OF STYLE 207
Structure and Style--Style a Matter of Feeling--Style
an Absolute Quality--The Twofold Appeal of
Language--Concrete Examples--Onomatopoetic
Words--Memorable Words--The Patterning of
Syllables--Stevenson on Style--The Pattern of
Rhythm--The Pattern of Literation--Style a Fine
Art--Style an Important Aid to Fiction--The
Heresy of the Accidental--Style an Intuitive
Quality--Methods and Materials--Content and
Form--The Fusion of Both Elements--The Author's
Personality--Recapitulation.

INDEX 227