By contrasting his early novels with his later work, we can see the development in his writing.

contrasting 是动词 contrast 的现在分词形式。contrast 由前缀 con-（表示"共同"）和词根 -trast（来自拉丁语 stare，意为"站立"）组成，原意是"并排站立"，引申为"对比、对照"。 现在分词 contrasting 在这里表示主动进行的对比动作。