rd from effects to causes, instead of forward
from causes to effects. In carrying on a plot which is woven out of
several strands, it is hardly ever possible to represent events in
uninterrupted chronological succession, even when the author
consistently works forward from causes to effects; for after he has
pursued one strand of his plot to a certain point in time, he is
obliged to turn backward several days or weeks, or possibly a longer
period, to pick up another strand and carry it forward to the same
point in time at which he left the first. Retrogression in time,
therefore, is frequently not only permissible but necessary. But it is
only common-sensible to state that chronological sequence should be
sacrificed merely for the sake of making clear the logical relation of
events; and whenever juggling with chronology tends to obscure instead
of clarify that logical relation, it is evidence of an error of
judgment on the part of the narrator. Turgenieff is often guilty of
this error of judgment. He has a disconcerting habit of bringing a new
character into the scene which stands for the moment before the eye of
the reader, and then turning the narrative backward several years in
order to recount the past life of the newcomer. Frequently, before
this parenthetic recital is completed, the reader has forgotten the
scene from which the author turned to the digression.

=Tying and Untying.=--In most plots, as has been stated, the
_nouement_ is more significant than the _denouement_, and the causes
leading to the tying of the major knot are more interesting than the
effects traced during the process of untying it. This is the reason
why the culmination is usually set well along toward the conclusion of
the story. Sometimes even, when the major knot has been tied with a
Gordian intricacy, the author sets it at the very end of his
narrative, and suddenly cuts it instead of carefully untying it. But
there is no absolutely necessary reason why it should stand at the
end, or, as is more frequently the case, at a point about three
quarters through the story. It may even be set at the very beginning;
and the narrative may concern itself entirely with an elaborate
_denouement_. This is the case, for example, in the detective story,
where a very intricate knot is assumed at the outset, and the
narrative proceeds to exhibit the prowess of the detective-hero in
untying it.

=Transition to the Next Chapter.=--A well-constructed plot,