ABSTRACT
The use of the imagination has been complicated for the modem novelist by the emphasis laid by the modem critic upon the importance of recorded observation. It was at one time demanded that Mr. Micawber and Becky Sharp should not only have sharply defined dwellings and properties of a very recognisable kind, but that they should also, of themselves, be individual and memorable characters. Now that background is of itself almost sufficient to claim approving attention, and the fact that one can remember the angles of the playground at one’s board-school and the exact appearance of the counter at the shop where one was once an eager assistant is enough to catch the critics and readers by the throat.
