Professor Spurgin, of Lawrence University, traces the novel from its beginnings in the 18th century, when Samuel Richardson penned Pamela, to its culmination in the work of the 20th century Modernists, including Lawrence, Joyce, and Woolf. He also relates plots and characters of particular novels to larger movements in English history. By placing more than two centuries of great English novelists in the context of British history, Professor Spurgin shows how their lives intersected with the creation of their art.