BOOKS AND THEIR FAME.
A controversy hi the London Bookman upon Edgar 'Allan Poe's title to be regarded as a genius provoked a discussion upon over-rated books in English literature. Mr. Robert Lynd. the essayist, wrote unhesitatingly: "Four that occur to my mind are ' Moby Dick,' Doughty's ' Arabia Deserta,' the poetry of Dryden, and Christopher Smart's ' Song to David.' I am sure all these are works of genius, but they seem to me to have been given a rather higher place among works of genius than they deserve.".
Miss Marjorie Bowen, the short story writer, said: " Many living women writers could better ' Jane Eyre ' —who can forgive St. John and Rochester —and what domantic novelist of the present day but could do better with the gorgeous plot of ' The Bride of Lammermoor ' than Scott ? Jane Austen seems to me verv over-rated, but I am forced to believe'that this is a matter of personal dislike!"
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19833, 31 December 1927, Page 7 (Supplement)
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154BOOKS AND THEIR FAME. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19833, 31 December 1927, Page 7 (Supplement)
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