Norms for the Novel

"There are two problems that face the professional critic of the novel and the amateur critic, who is the reader. If the novels deals with moral problems and any serious novel does what are the norms for moral evaluation? Further, apart from the moral evaluation, how shall the critic judge the novel simply as a work of art? Are these two sets of criteria independent/ Do they influence one another? What should one expect to gain from reading novels? These and other questions are treated by Father Gardiner in Norms for the Novel, which is a greatly expanded and revised edition of his well-known booklet, Tenants for Readers and Reviewers, first issued in 1942. Though the bulk of Father Gardiner's discussion deals with the modern novel, the reader will find here a body of principles which will help deepen his appreciation of any creative literature. The book may well be called a Seminarium, a seedbed of fruitful ideas on creative reading."-Publisher