Fictional Structure and Ethics

In this study, the author asserts that the contributions of certain turn-of-the-century English novelists have been obscured by the prevailing view that the novel evolved primarily to express character. He re-evaluates their fiction in light of the tension between fictional structure and characterization. From close readings of seven novels - "Anna of the Five Towns", "The Unclassed", " Jude the Obscure", "The Wonderful Visit", "The Sea Lady", "Lord Jim" and "The Heart of Darkness - Professor Scheick demonstrates that the tension between characterization and structure is resolved in favour of structure. He contends that in order to communicate to a self-absorbed transitional age, which they felt was on the verge of either renewed promise or acute despair, these novelists preferred structure for its ethical implications. Scheick compares the priority of fictional structure over character (the communal viewpoint over the claims of the self) in these novels to the same arrangement in allegory, which stresses ethical concerns.