ARNOLD BENNETT RECONSIDERED: HIS LITERARY THEORIES AND FICTION (EDWARDIAN, BRITISH REALISM)

One of several writers who began as an "Edwardian," Arnold Bennett wrote in the enduring literary tradition of English Realism. During his lifetime, Bennett was a well respected writer both of literary theory and fiction. His peers, notably Henry James, H. G. Wells, and J. B. Priestley, repeatedly complimented his literature and acknowledged his contribution to English letters. Bennett's realism and theory of his craft, however, receive little critical attention today, although they richly deserve it.;The author must be truthful, usually relying on personal observation, even "autobiographical" experience, to insure that the topic is presented accurately. Bennett felt that unobscured vision was a moral act; writers, having the clearest vision, were thus obligated to present morality in their work. Moreover, good writing and handsome payment for it were not mutually exclusive.;The Five Towns novels, Anna of the Five Towns, The Old Wives' Tale, and the Clayhanger Trilogy--Clayhanger, Hilda Lessways, and These Twain, illustrate Bennett's interest in and sympathy for the individual. Generally, his characters never find ultimate fulfillment principally because they are victims of social forces or they lack any sympathy for others. Only characters with compassion live without bitterness or disappointment.;In the London novels, The Pretty Lady, Riceyman Steps, and Lord Raingo, Bennett demonstrates the destructiveness of egotism which makes fulfilling relationships impossible. Those characters without any crippling egotism display the necessary values of humility and love.;Bennett's theoretical writing demonstrates the depth of his artistic sensibility. For example, Bennett thoroughly explains the artist's need for clear vision. This clarity of vision necessitates an omniscient narrative point-of-view that presents an accurate representation of life which is not clouded or distorted by dilettantism or didacticism.;Bennett's realism is not foreign to British literature. He stands with such singularly important representatives as George Gissing, John Galsworthy, and J. B. Priestley, and he greatly influenced such contemporary writers as Graham Greene and Margaret Drabble. He understood and recorded the best and worst of his society in an animated, enduring style.