The novelist has his choice among three methods
1.
Direct,
or epic
2.
The
autobiographical and
3.
The
documentary
In the first and most usual way, the novelist is an historian
narrating from the outside.
In the second, he writes in the first person, identifying
himself with one of his characters (generally, though not always, the hero or
heroine) and thus produces an imaginary auto biography; as in Robinson Crusoe,
The vicar of wakefield, David copperfield, Esmond, Jane Eyre
In the third, the action is unfolded by means of letters, as
in the “epistolary” novels of Richardson, Smollett’s Humphrey Clinker, Fanny
Burney’s Evelina, and Goethe’s Sorrows of Werther; or a favourite device of
Wilkie Collins by diaries, contributed narratives, and miscellaneous documents.
Occasionally, the methods may be blended, as in Bleak House,
where Esther summerson’s story is told by herself, while the rest of the book
takes the direct historic form.
It is evident that each of these three ways has its special
advantages; for while the direct method
always gives the greatest scope and freedom of movement, a keener and more
intimate interest may sometimes be attained by the use of either the first
–personal or the documentary plan.
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