ABSTRACT
Since the ascendance of the modern novel as a literary form in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, discussions about its merits have been closely connected with questions of realism and representation. As Booth argues, the ‘assumption that a novel should seem real’ (1961: 53) has been around since its inception. James, Trilling, and Booth certainly share this assumption. The aim of this chapter is to examine the diverse theories of these three writers, notwithstanding their common basis, on realism and representation.
