SIR,—Let us all agree with Mr. L. H. Callendar that
the dis- cussing of the best books is endlessly fascinating, and add, affords a pleasure only second to the reading of them. That is, of course, provided a kindly tolerance is shown by those who cannot share the tastes of others.
Mr. Verschoyle has wisely avoided wounding the world-wide worshippers of Charles Dickens by merely indicating himself as not of their company. Mr. Callendar scorns the use of the gloves. In his intense desire for realism he can see nothing but "absurd or romantic caricatures of life" in the immortal works.
To attempt a defence of Dickens would be like .trying to justify Shakespeare. But I am up in arms against Mr. Callen- dar's insulting sneer at Jane Austen and her readers. "'Who," he asks, "but a boy or young man with no experience of life could find Jane Austen's insipid drawing-room romances enter- taining?"
The answer is that because Jane Austen portrayed characters true to the fundamentals of human nature, which do not change with time and circumstance, her novels have an endless fasci- nation for placid minds who can see through Jane's eyes and relish what E. V. Lucas called the "gentle mischief in her pen." Mr. Callendar has tried to enjoy her, but has failed, as we all have with some author or another. But he is quite in the wrong in thinking that the devoted band of Jane-ites is composed of immature youth. I should say that the reverse is the truth, and that the larger the experience of life, the greater Jane's appeal. Anyhow, Mr. Callendar could have expressed his dislike with- out venom. We Jane-ites might have equal difficulty in under- standing some of his preferences.
I have chosen the following twenty for my island-prison library. It will be seen that they are insular in a double sense.
Shakespeare's Plays and Sonnets, David Copperfield, The Amazing Marriage, Typhoon, Far From the Madding Crowd, Aphrodite in Aulis, The Odyssey (by T. E. Lawrence), Over Bemertius, The Ingoldsby Legends, Vanity Fair, Lard Ormont and His Aminta, Sterne's Sentimental Yourney, Lavengro and The Romany Rye (in one), Jane Austen's Works (omnibus), Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (in one), W. S. Gilbert's Plays, Pepys' Diary (in full), Cobbett's Rural Rides, A Tale of Two Cities, Wuthering Heights.—Yours faithfully, GEORGE C. OWLES. 6 Claremont Avenue, Ssoutkport.
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