SOURCE: Introduction to The Novels of Thomas Deloney, Indiana University Press, 1961, pp. xi–xxiii.

In the following excerpt, Lawlis emphasizes some distinctive and innovative qualities of Deloney's novels: the dramatic presentation of scenes, the idiomatic dialogue, and the abundance of colorful characters.

1. Deloney as Novelist: His Use of the Drama and the Jestbook

By the time Thomas Deloney in the last few years of the sixteenth century turned to what we now call the novel form, he knew what his public wanted. All four of his novels immediately became so popular that the early editions of them were read completely out of existence. To the twentieth-century reader such a flattering catastrophe is not at all difficult to understand, for Deloney's writing is still fresh and exciting.

His characters come alive quickly and easily. How, the reader asks, did he learn to write crisp and life-creating dialogue? Unfortunately, our...