WOMEN'S MINDS
Sett,—I agree regretfully with some of Miss Elizabeth Dunn's conclusions in her article Women's Minds," but I do protest against the main basis of her argument that ficuon is trivial and non-fiction the only read- ing for an intelligent and thoughtful person.
I have heard many people, men and women. boast that they never read novels, but I believe these who can enjoy " bicgraphy, travel, war or technical books," as well as " the doubtful delights of a novel," find the average level of intelligence, thouglufulness and literary ability at least as high among novelists as among the writers of non-fiction. Among contemporary books I have read myself in the last year or two, I can remember only one (M. Antoine de St. Exupery's Flight to Arras) which has impressed me as much as Miss Kate O'Brien's Land of Spices, and Mr. John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Admittedly there are many third-rate novels, but there are also third-rate biographies, war and travel books.
Isn't it as remiss of the men at Miss Dunn's library to risk passing by War and Peace by not looking at the fiction shelves, as of the women to turn up their noses at non-fiction?—Yours. faithfully,
MARGARET DAWALL.
Heath House, Clungunford, Craven Arms. Shropshire.
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