Appropriate Form : Essay on the Novel

by Barbara Hardy

In this substantial essay on the novel (first published in 1964) Barbara Hardy distinguishes three integral aspects of the art of fiction – story, the working-out of a moral problem, and “truthfulness”, defined as “the lively representation of reality”. From this standpoint she discusses and elucidates some characteristic excellences and limitations of a number of major novels and novelists, including Defoe, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, Meredith, James, Hardy, E. M. Forster, and D. H. Lawrence.

226 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Barbara Hardy, FRSL, FBA (née Nathan; 27 June 1924 – 12 February 2016) was a British literary scholar, author, and poet. As an academic, she specialised in the literature of the 19th Century. From 1965 to 1970, she was Professor of English at Royal Holloway College, University of London. Then, from 1970 to 1989, she was Professor of English Literature at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Hardy was born on 27 June 1924 in Swansea, Wales. She was educated at Swansea High School for Girls, a grammar school. In February 1941, she experienced the Swansea Blitz. She studied at University College London, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1947 and a Master of Arts (MA) degree in 1949.

In 1962, Hardy was awarded the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize by the British Academy for her monograph The Novels of George Elliot. In 1997, she was awarded the Sagittarius Prize by the Society of Authors for her novel London Lovers. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) in 1997, and a Senior Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 2006.

(from Wikipedia)