The Puzzle of Dickens's Last Plot

Excerpt

Forster tells us that Dickens, in his later novels, from Bleak
House onwards (1853), “assiduously cultivated” construction, “this
essential of his art.”  Some critics may think, that since so many
of the best novels in the world “have no outline, or, if they have
an outline, it is a demned outline,” elaborate construction is not
absolutely “essential.”  Really essential are character,
“atmosphere,” humour.