The Story

Introduction to The Story

The chapter 'The Story' by E.M. Forster, excerpted from his work 'Aspects of the Novel', explores the fundamental nature of the novel as a literary form, focusing primarily on its storytelling aspect. Forster begins by acknowledging that while the novel encompasses many artistic and intellectual qualities, its core and defining feature is the story it tells. He presents three distinct perspectives on what a novel does, illustrating differing attitudes towards storytelling. The first perspective is indifferent and vague, suggesting that a novel simply tells a story without much thought. The second is assertive and values the story above all else, dismissing other literary elements as secondary. The third, which Forster identifies with, accepts storytelling as the novel’s fundamental aspect but wishes it could transcend this 'low atavistic form' to embody higher artistic values such as melody or truth perception. This introduction sets the stage for a deeper analysis of the story’s role in novels, emphasizing its universality and primacy despite its simplicity and ancient origins.

• The fundamental aspect of a novel is its storytelling nature.
• Three voices represent different attitudes towards what a novel does: indifferent, assertive about story, and regretful acceptance.
• Storytelling is seen as a primitive, atavistic form but essential to the novel's existence.
• Forster wishes novels could be more than just stories, aspiring to higher artistic qualities.
• The chapter is an excerpt from Forster's 'Aspects of the Novel', delivered as lectures.
• The discussion frames storytelling as both a simple and complex literary phenomenon.
• 📌 Novel: A long fictional narrative which tells a story.
• 📌 Storytelling: The act of narrating events in sequence to engage an audience.
• 📌 Atavistic: Relating to a primitive or ancestral characteristic.

The Story as the Backbone of the Novel

Forster elaborates on the story as the backbone or 'tape-worm' of the novel, emphasizing its ancient and primal origins. He traces storytelling back to Neolithic or even Palaeolithic times, suggesting that early humans, such as Neanderthals, were engaged by stories told around campfires. The primitive audience, fatigued from survival struggles, was kept awake by suspense—the desire to know what happens next. Forster uses the example of Scheherazade from the 'One Thousand and One Nights' to illustrate the power of suspense in storytelling. Scheherazade cleverly uses the suspense of unfinished stories to save her life from a tyrannical king, demonstrating that the story’s ability to make the audience eager to know what happens next is its most potent tool. The story, as a narrative of events arranged in time sequence, has only one merit: to make the audience want to know what happens next, and one fault: to fail in doing so. Despite being the simplest literary organism, the story is the highest common factor in all novels.

• Storytelling dates back to prehistoric times, engaging primitive audiences.
• Suspense is the key literary tool that keeps the audience engaged.
• Scheherazade’s stories in 'One Thousand and One Nights' exemplify the power of suspense.
• A story is defined as a narrative of events arranged in chronological order.
• The story’s sole merit is to make the audience want to know what happens next.
• Despite its simplicity, the story is essential to all novels.
• 📌 Suspense: The literary device that creates anticipation about what will happen next.
• 📌 Narrative: A structured account of connected events.
• 📌 Chronological order: Arrangement of events in the sequence they occur in time.