WFB begins by pointing out that notwithstanding the success of his guests, novels were generally regarded as out of date, and the novelists present (not including our host, who was six years away from joining their ranks) take it from there. LA: "There's a constant demand for forms that are relevant to our age. The screen, painting, and sculpture can change their form. The novel tried to change its form. The French novel carried it to the point where Nathalie Sarraute has eliminated characters.... But it seems to me that the novel is not capable of this adjustment to new forms.... I really don't think Nathalie Sarraute is successful in eliminating characters." HM: "But she isn't writing a novel. Why doesn't she call it something else? People never used to get confused about what the novel was for."