Читать книгу The Selected Works of Arnold Bennett: Essays, Personal Development Books & Articles - Arnold Bennett - Страница 74

It may be said roughly that a novel is an organic succession of episodes, each of which has a little life and entity of its own. The beginner must severely interrogate each episode as he does it, and put it through a sort of cross-examination in order to justify its existence. An episode may be a beautiful and effective episode, but if it does not directly help forward the story as a whole, then it has no right to exist Every episode must directly assist the progress of the tale. It is useless to urge that such and such an episode, though it does not help the actual story, illustrates a character or confirms an atmosphere. The subsidiary functions of an episode may be various, but whatever they are they must always combine harmoniously with the principal function of every episode, which is to tell the tale. When, for any reason whatever, you cease to tell the tale, you are sinning not only against policy, but against the classic principles of art. When an episode has been written, it is advisable to inquire: “Assuming that this episode were accidentally omitted, would the reader notice a hiatus? Would the actual tale be impaired?” If the answer is in the negative, then that episode must go.

The remark which I made on page 144 about the beginner’s difficulty in stopping a conversation in mid-course when it ceases to be useful, applies with equal force to all episodes. Whenever any scene has served its purpose in the general scheme of the book, at whatever point it loses its appositeness and begins to be perfunctory, stop it. Stop it ruthlessly, and proceed with the tale at the next interesting point further on. Passages which do not interest the author are not likely to interest the reader, and a book gains enormously by the excision of everything that is not strictly relevant, indispensable, and of paramount interest. The beginner will be astonished at the amount of stuff which may be eliminated without in the least spoiling the story.