Great tradition

Author: F.R. Leavis
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: This book starts with the "genuine great masters" in the history of British fiction, sorting out and elucidating the greatness of the British novel tradition, aiming to "awaken a proper and fitting sense of difference." A great novelist, as defined here, "refers to those important novelists who can be compared and matched with great poets—they not only change the potential of art for their peers and readers but also hold significant meaning in terms of the human consciousness they inspire—consciousness of the potential of life." In other words, they are not only creative geniuses in form, technique, and skill but also show serious interest and concern for moral relationships and human consciousness. The novelists fortunate enough to be included in Leavis's list of great masters are: Jane Austen, George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, and D.H. Lawrence; famous figures like Meredith and Hardy are considered "the reputation is great, but the substance is hard to match"; as for Dickens, the author acknowledges his greatness on one hand but also says, "a mature mind finds nothing in Dickens that demands people maintain an extraordinary level of seriousness," hence only analyzing his Hard Times in the final chapter.