Aristotle
Aristotle may be more familiar as a philosopher to some than he is as a central figure in the development of literature. But it is Aristotle who is the controlling influence of the ancient Greeks over even modern development of plot and character thanks to his seminal work, Poetics.
Jane Austen
The author of an astonishing number of novels 18th century novels to be adapted into films and television series in the 21st century is celebrated by Forster for constructing novels more complicated than her male peers. The focus for Austen’s complexity is steeped in the depth of character as the engine driving her plots.
Herman Melville
Melville is singled out by the author for successfully accomplishing an intention pursued by many who have fallen short: the portrayal of genuine evil in a character. Surprisingly, however—at least for some, perhaps—Forster does not locate this achievement within either the white whale or the obsessed captain pursuing him in Moby Dick, but rather Claggart, the persecutor of Billy Budd.
D.H. Lawrence
Melville was already dead by the time Forster wrote this book; otherwise, he would probably be the recipient of the lavish praise roughly equivalent with identifying him as the greatest living author of his day. Lawrence and Melville are connected together by the author as writers trafficking in what he identifies as “prophetic novels.” It is a term that means very much to Forster and which one supposedly could identify through connotation by reading Lawrence, but which isn’t sufficiently defined by Forster himself in his book.
