The Structure of the Novel Author:Edwin Muir First published in 1928, this book has become a minor classic of criticism. Dr. Muir's intellectual distinction, his good sense and independence of mind inform this "study of some of the lines along which events move in the novel." There are the novel of action, the novel of character, and — the dramatic novel in which plot and character are inse... more »parably knit; the character novel moves primarily in space, the dramatic in time: and then there is the chronicle novel, such as War and Peace, where "human life is not set against fate or society, but against human life in perpetual change." The Structure of the Novel puts questions (Why should not a character be flat?) as fundamental as they are unfashionable. It hacks away the critical undergrowth which has accumulated round the great novels, so that, finding our bearings again, we can recognise their distinctive virtues.« less