Fifty Works of English Literature We Could Do Without by Brigid Brophy

It must often happen that a young person takes up or has forced on him one of the accepted 'classics' he finds it either blatant tripe or unreadable and he thereupon decides he is through with English Literature as a whole. In making a start on weeding it, we have been moved by our sense of the injustice done alike to great authors and to the public. It is only just to hear the editors out about the conception of their book, please forgive me for quoting them extensively:īefore you let fly with a scream at our iconoclasm, pause and play fair: do you really like, admire and (most important criterion of all) enjoy the works in question, or do you merely think you ought to?Įnglish Literature, as it is presented by pundits and enquiring persons, is choked with the implied obligation to like dull books. 'Address to the Reader' – Fifty Works of English Literature We Could Do Without I still cannot understand why, out of all the books and articles that had been published at that time, to choose precisely this reference to Maugham as representative of literary criticism of his works. My only objection is not towards the book itself at all, after getting acquainted with it, but with Contemporary Literary Criticism (I can see them getting so irritated by this querulous person.). It is indeed an interesting book, full of humour, if you know how to appreciate it. No sarcasm is intended in my last comment. Its title is deadly fascinating and it certainly lives up to its expectations.

1, in the Maugham entry, which I mentioned in an earlier post. I was very curious about this book, which was quoted by the reference book Contemporary Literary Criticism, vol.

Fifty Works of English Literature We Could Do Without. Fifty Works of English Literature We Could Do Withoutīrophy, Brigid, Michael Levey and Charles Osborne.

Fifty Works of English Literature We Could Do Without by Brigid Brophy