(4) By plot, we mean the manner in which the incidents of a story are arranged with reference to the final issue. The incidents may be loosely connected or they may be so skillfully ordered as to arouse the reader's breathless interest. A skillful plot presupposes dramatic talent. This is not always found in union with a strong creative imagination; and thus it happens that some of our greatest novelists, as Thackeray and George Eliot, are defective in dramatic plots. While a skillfully arranged plot is not an essential element in a work of fiction, it is always a source of interest and power.
(5) Every work of fiction has an aim or purpose. Sometimes the author merely aims at telling an interesting story which has no other significance than to provoke a smile or a tear. Sometimes it may be intended to illustrate a period in history or the manners of a particular locality. Sometimes it is designed to throw light on some phase of human character or human experience. And again, it may be a vehicle for conveying some form of teaching or for illustrating the growth of culture and character. In studying a work of fiction the purpose should be clearly apprehended, for the merit of a novel or romance depends in a measure upon the author's aim and his degree of success in realizing it.
(6) Every work of fiction, consciously or unconsciously to the author, is apt to embody a particular view or philosophy of life. Every thoughtful person has convictions in regard to God, nature, and man. He may believe in a personal deity or an unconscious force as the source of all things. He may think of nature as a creation or as a product of impersonal natural law. He may think of man as an immortal being or as a creature whose existence ceases with death. But whatever may be an author's fundamental beliefs, they will inevitably color his work.
+73. Kinds of Novels.+ Novels may be divided into various classes according to subject or method of treatment. As to method, we have already had the general division of romanticism and realism. Another generic classification has been proposed: first, _novels of life_, which include the works portraying both past and contemporary life; and second, _novels of idea_, which include didactic and artistic works of fiction. The didactic novel discusses some practical problem or advances some social or moral theory; the artistic novel subordinates the story to perfection of form.