First published in 1951, the two volumes of An Introduction to the English Novel discuss how and why the novel developed in England in the eighteenth century. The books look at the function and background of prose fiction, focusing its arguments around the study of carefully selected books that have had a significant impact on its development. The author examines the progress in the long struggle of the novelist to see life steadily and whole, and points out some of the problems and hazards that beset the writer still.