Re: And what do you read these days?

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My dear Mr Glendinning,

  Did I really give the impression of wishing "to remain current," as you
put it?  In truth, I sought only to read fiction which was well-constructed
and spoke to the heart.   Fashions of the day, I always felt, were to be
laughed at rather than adhered to.
  I find myself out of sympathy with much of today's fiction, because it
seems not to be written for the understanding and enjoyment of the ordinary
men and women, and their children, whom I sought always to address and
please.  Having said as much, I feel it would be invidious for me to name
and acclaim, or name and blame. I conclude by saying only that the writer of
novels who despises the understanding of the purchaser at the railway
station stall, courts oblivion within a generation.

Faithfully yours,


Charles Dickens
____________________________________________________________________________
____

>To The Inimitable from One Who Longs to Imit:
>
>One would assume that the desires you had during the 19th century to remain
>current and to read the great writers of your day would hardly have died in
>the 20th.  Which authors, in your opinion, are worthy of your precious time in
>this century -- even up to the present day?
>
>Charles Glendinning
>
>

======================
Charles Dickens
charles_dickens@rmplc.co.uk
Author

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