Sir,-W. J. Scott says that he expects educated people to accept the following statement among others. "It does not matter what additional information about this or that a novel may give us; if its picture of human nature in action is distorted or defective, the quality cannot be good." Unless educated people are defined as those whose opinions coincide with Mr. Scott’s, this is pure baloney. Plenty of what is regarded as the best literature, even by educated people, consists principally of "distortions of human nature." Macbeth and The Fall of the House of Usher, for instance, contain some of the most unnatural characters I have ever met, yet, although Mr. Scott would probably class them as thrillers and therefore unworthy of the notice of the educated, these are frequently read in
schoets, the very centres of education. As for his question whether a mystery tale trains the mind for Tolstoy, Milton, Fielding, and Eliot, he might as well ask whether Tolstoy, Milton, Fielding, and Eliot train the mind for mystery tales. Indeed, most of Mr. Scott’s arguments work the other way, especially if we substitute for his dogmatic assumption the truth that it is dullness,: not perversion, that is the hallmark of bad literature.
J. S.
D. PATTERSON
(Gisborne),
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 393, 3 January 1947, Page 5
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210Untitled New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 393, 3 January 1947, Page 5
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