FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FICTIONAL PROSE STYLE WERE STUDIED THROUGH SYSTEMATIC AND OBJECTIVE ANALYSES OF NOVELISTIC SYNTAX AND VOCABULARY. SAMPLE PASSAGES FROM THE MAJOR NOVELS OF JANE AUSTEN, THE BRONTE SISTERS, AND GEORGE ELIOT AS WELL AS NOVELS BY 13 OTHER AUTHORS WERE ANALYZED. INFORMATION ON PASSAGE SENTENCES, CLAUSES, AND WORDS WAS CODED AND TRANSFERED TO MAGNETIC TAPE. STATISTICAL TESTS WERE RUN ON THE DATA, AND FREQUENCIES OF SYNTACTIC PATTERNS AND VOCABULARY PREFERENCES WERE PRINTED OUT. THE PRIMARY CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY WERE--(1) IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO DEFINE THE STYLE OF ANY NOVELIST THROUGH SIMPLE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF HIS GRAMMAR OR HIS WORD CHOICE, (2) NOVELISTIC STYLE CAN BE SATISFACTORILY IDENTIFIED ONLY IN TERMS OF MULTIPLE FACTORS, MANY OF WHICH GO BEYOND THE LEVEL OF SYNTAX AND VOCABULARY, AND (3) FURTHER SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF FICTIONAL PROSE STYLE SHOULD BE BASED ON AUTOMATED ANALYSIS OF TEXTS, AS THE HUMAN ANALYSIS OF TEXTS REQUIRES AN EXORBITANT AMOUNT OF TIME. (AL)