The author’s note at the opening explains that the book consists of a series of lectures that the author gave in 1927 at the University of Cambridge. Forster explains that this is why the language is more informal than is typical in scholarly works. However, he says that given the novel’s typically colloquial nature, the tone of this book is in keeping with its subject matter.

At the beginning of the book, Forster includes a tribute to William George Clark, who bequeathed a portion of his estate to establish the lecture series that is the basis for the book. Forster notes that the lectures are meant to focus “on some period or periods of English literature not earlier than Chaucer” (15), and he says that his focus departs somewhat from that subject. Forster does not intend to focus on periods of literature, but on a particular form of literature: The novel.

He begins his discussion with a definition of the novel. Initially, he references Abel Chevally’s definition that a novel is a work of fiction of a certain length—specifically, it needs to be a minimum of 50,000 words. He then clarifies the definition further, saying that that novel must be neither poetry nor history.