Doody, Margaret.The True Story of the Novel. Rutgers University Press, 1996. In-depth examination of the classical roots of the novel form; traces the novel's development through history to the present.
Forster, E. M.Aspects of the Novel. Harcourt Brace., 1954, 1985. Informal discussion of the art of fiction.
Hagg, Tomas.The Novel in Antiquity. University of California Press, 1983. Comprehensive, illustrated introduction to the ancient novel.
James, Henry.The Art of the Novel. Scribner, Reprint, University of Nebraska Press, 1934. 1984. This collection of James's prefaces to his own novels is considered one of the greatest single statements on the principles of fiction.
McCarthy, Mary.Ideas and the Novel. Harcourt, 1980. Commentary on 19th- and 20th-century fiction.