lation (such as the Maudes' or Rosemary Edmond's) for instance, and scrutinizing just what is omitted. Then ask yourself if you agree with Clifton Fadiman's comments in the introduction of the Bantam Edition that in the abridged version you "get the novelist Tolstoy" as he actually is.

A distinguished German critic once said that if you want to launch upon a discussion of a book, you should find someone to disagree with. Notice that disagreement is one of the ingredients of a good television panel discussion-disagreement has high interest and entertainment value (provided it is within the limits of TV's own "code"). Whether you do or do not agree with Mr. Fadiman, at least his introductory comments in the Bantam Edition give you a basis for discussion of War and Peace as a work of art. So do Philip Rahv's introduction to Sebastopol, Leslie Fiedler's foreword to The Good Soldier: Schweik, Ralph Ellison's or Max Herzberg's introduction to The Red Badge of Courage. Is it possible for a work of art to lack the artistic unity that has so generally been considered necessary and yet be a first-rate novel?

Can a novel, over half of which consists of "relatively extraneous matter," really be a masterpiece of fiction? Or could it be that Tolstoy had a purpose, an artistic purpose, which Mr. Fadiman fails to appreciate? Specifically, are the omitted passages about the philosophy of history really extraneous, or do they help fill out Tolstoy's literary plan? And the matter of Freemasonry in Russia-is this less intrinsic to War and Peace than the discussions of the wars? Are these matters really put in "in defiance of the author's story" and, if so, did he not perhaps regard the story as only part of his artistic purpose? Did Tolstoy-who later wrote "What Is Art?"-care so little for the structure of his epic masterpiece that he "threw" into it "everything that he happened to be thinking about at the time"? Or could it be that he had a more comprehensive design? Perhaps, on examining the whole work, you will discover artistic relevance in much or even all of the excised matter. And in addition you may find richer characterization, more discernable structure, more profound reflections upon life than you find in Komroff's simplified abridgment. You may discover that the "reflection on history, on free thought, on Napoleon's conquest, on the littleness of great men, on the philosophy of military strategy" that Mr. Fadiman finds expendable are really quite important to your total enjoyment of the book. Most

(My thanks go to Dr. Josephine Bauer, USAFI, Education Specialist in English, for much of the following discussion.)

good novels have design. Cutdown versions, by removing what some editor thinks is irrelevant or unimportant, make it impossible for the reader to experience the full meaning of the work.

The questions suggested in regard to the study of War and Peace are just given by way of a start and a warning. The warning is to beware of accepting another person's evaluation without testing it, regardless of how competent or popular a critic that person may be. How often do we uncritically accept the opinion of a celebrity on some subject about which he knows absolutely nothing? By all means, give thoughtful consideration to his point of view, but test it carefully against others, and especially against the work itself before accepting it. This is a good rule to follow in areas other than literary appreciation. The soul of good discussion is disagreement. Test and evaluate specifically, so that you really taste the flavor of the literature itself. Your opinion is as good as that of anyone else.

It is neither possible nor desirable to give a careful analysis of these novels for their literary value in this course. However, a few suggestions and questions may help you to discuss these novels informally with your friends or in a group study class. These will be given under generalized heads that apply to all novels.

1. Title-In the reading of many novels, the title is the key. Why do you think Tolstoy simply juxtaposed the two words War, Peace, and connected them with the coordinating conjunction and? Why does Crane call his novel The Red Badge of Courage? Wherein lies the aptness of each of these titles of the novels? Hemingway, especially, gives unusual importance to the titles of his works, even going so far as to include the passages from which he quotes, in the names of such books as The Sun Also Rises and For Whom the Bell Tolls. A careful look at the title, a thoughtful reading of the passage from which it was taken, will help you to see the author's central intention. In every book you read, consider the title and see if the author is using it to point up his theme.

2. Point of View-The "point of view" in literary criticism means only one thing: Who tells the story. If the story is told by the author in his own right, talking about characters (using the third person), the author is usually referred to as the "omniscient" author because he can look into his characters' minds and hearts; he knows their secrets, their motives, their hidden feelings; he

can tell what is happening at various places at the same time. For the purposes of his book, he is omniscient. But if the author writes in the person of one of his characters (using the first person), he limits himself and must account for his knowledge of the others. All Quiet on the Western Front, for instance, is written from the point of view of a German soldier-Paul Bäumer is the I of the novel. A Farewell to Arms is written from the point of view of Frederic Henry-he is the I of the novel. When an author writes as if he were actually one of the characters, he necessarily curtails what he can tell by what that character could know and think. Why would an author choose so to limit himself? What does he gain? Compare A Farewell to Arms with, let us say, For Whom the Bell Tolls, which is written by the omniscient author. Both are by Ernest Hemingway. See if you can guess why Hemingway chose the point of view he did in each of these novels.

3. Setting-In some novels the setting is extremely important, and in others the author could just as well have used any one of a number of settings. All the war novels have, of course, the background, at least in part, of war. In some the setting is extremely important. The character of the terrain, the location of the bridge, the forests and caves are, of course, strategically important in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Notice how Hemingway uses the setting also for artistic effect. The novel opens with Robert Jordan lying "flat on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest. . . . The mountainside sloped gently where he lay; but below it was steep and he could see the dark oiled road winding through the pass." And the novel closes with the same scene, as Jordan, again lying on the pine needles, sees the enemy troopers there, "on the slope, close to him now, and below he saw the road. . . . He touched the palm of his hand against the pine needles where he lay. . . ." Observe the design, the planning, the use of setting for effect, as Jordan's life is about to end with the successful completion of the mission he had just started at the opening of the book. Sometimes the setting has symbolic value-the battle of Chancellorsville that Crane chose as the setting for The Red Badge of Courage is an ironic choice, because it was here that the Union Army suffered one of its most humiliating defeats. Yet, here Henry Fleming wins a moral victory. Sometimes the setting creates an atmosphere of gloom or joy. Could the mutiny have taken place on any other ship in our navy than the U.S.S. Caine? The skillful novelist often makes use of setting in his craftsmanship. War and Peace and And Quiet Flows the Don seem to gain a magnitude from the

scope of their settings, panoramas against which great actions take place. If you deliberately examine the setting, you may find significances you might otherwise miss.

4. Plot-All novels involve conflict. The conflict may be between people, or it may be an internal conflict, or it may be a conflict of man with his environment. The conflict does not have to be an obvious one between good and evil, between a hero and a villain. All the war novels involve conflicts between armies, but just as great are the conflicts of a man with himself (Henry Fleming in The Red Badge of Courage; Pierre, Nicholas, Rostov and others in War and Peace; Pilar, Pablo, Anselmo in For Whom the Bell Tolls, and many more).

In some novels the plot is very carefully worked out, tightly knit, and of first importance; in others it may be episodic and perhaps even secondary to other considerations that seem to preoccupy the writer. Chart the events and try to determine just how each novel is plotted. War and Peace tells an interrelated story of five Russian families against the magnificent backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. And Quiet Flows the Don does likewise in the tremendous events of World War I and the Russian Revolution. It will pay you to trace the way these events are tied together. How much plot is there in The Red Badge of Courage if you simply list events? What of the plot in All Quiet on the Western Front?

Some plots start in the beginning and work straight through to the climax. Some start with a climax and go back or work backwards. How is the plot handled in For Whom the Bell Tolls? Where does the plot start? The whole action of the story takes place in just 72 hours. How does Hemingway "brief the reader" with preliminary events necessary to the comprehension of the significance of those 72 hours? How do you learn of the days of Pablo's leadership of the band of partisans, for instance, and of Robert Jordan's, Maria's, and Pilar's former lives? Is Hemingway's method effective? How does it differ from Tolstoy's in War and Peace? When For Whom the Bell Tolls first appeared, a newspaper critic said that Hemingway took almost 500 pages to tell how a man blew a bridge. Was that perceptive criticism? What does Hemingway gain from confining the plot to 72 hours? Look closely at the writer's manipulation of events in the plotting of all the novels and observe the craftsmanship.

5. Characterization-All novels have characters. All war novels

have characters under stress of battle or other war conditions. How does the novelist present them? Some writers are more interested in the character or the development of a personality than in the events. Sometimes the events are there merely to show their effect upon the character. Some characters are just the same in the beginning of the novel as in the end. Writers show growth or deterioration in characters through events, through disillusionment, through the influence of another character, through spiritual revelations, or any other way. Consider the development of Henry Fleming in The Red Badge of Courage, Pierre in War and Peace, Pablo in For Whom the Bell Tolls, Josef Schweik in The Good Soldier: Schweik, or any others whose characters evolve through the novel.

How are the characters revealed? Some writers tell you plainly what sort of person the character is (Schweik is "chronically feeble-minded, earned a livelihood by the sale of dogs-repulsive mongrel monstrosities for whom he forged pedigrees. . ."), what sort of family he came from, what sort of childhood or youth he had. Some (like Hemingway) are sparing of exposition or description. They prefer a more dramatic method. The characters reveal themselves through what they do or what they say and through the way other characters react to them-say to them or about them, do to them or with them. There is also the method of letting the reader share the character's thoughts. In For Whom the Bell Tolls the thoughts that run through Robert Jordan's mind (called "stream of consciousness") tell the reader a great deal of his character and also reveal how he became what he is.

6. Theme-In addition to telling a story or revealing character, novelists often are interested in revealing certain conviction about life through their works. This does not mean "pointing a moral" or "teaching a lesson," but by his marshalling of his characters and events, the writer can convey his own attitude toward various aspects of life; he reveals his own vision of life, for better or for worse. The experience is salutary for the reader, if only making him get outside himself for the moment. The theme of A Farewell to Arms is quite different from that of For Whom the Bell Tolls written 11 years later. These two Hemingway novels lend themselves well to comparison; each deals with a brief intense love affair under stress of war conditions; each deals with the death of one of the lovers; and each focuses upon the state of mind of a soldier under the relentless blows of fate. The themes are quite different. Both are fine novels. Do you think Heming