Sta,—H.oward Wyce, writing what seemed to be rather an unnecessarily
angry letter attacking Victor• Anant's article on "Pop" Fiction,' calls Mr. Anant 'plainly a romantic young man' and then accuses him of not being suffiCiently romantic. But at least it is a nicer label than angry, and Mr. A. should be thank- ful.
I'm afraid I conic under another of Howard Wyce's categories : that of the. 'literary' writer, whatever it means. The cap fits at least in so far as 1 am trying to get this letter into that notorious literary magazine known as the Spectator. But I only try this because for years I have tried, without success, to get into Howard Wyce's admass.
In 1953 I wrote a novel and I was approached by the then fiction editor of those magazines run by Messrs. Newnes and Pearson. They asked me, would 1 give them first refusal of the serialisation rights? I was delighted and said, yes, of course, there was nothing I'd like better. In due course I had the editor's answer. She was very sorry but, unfortu- nately, owing to the nature of the theme they could not publish it. (The theme, or story, was about a lonely middle-class woman who became progressively nastier and nastier owing to her predicament. One could call it tragic or sad, but I don't think in any way 'nasty.) The editor added that, personally, she had very much enjoyed the book and was looking forward to the next.
This is not meant to be a trumpet blast. It is only meant to illustrate the reason why a great many writers don't exactly hold their noses or shudder. We simply find it difficult to 'invade the mass media' where, Howard Wyce says, people should inject them (or it) with (our or their?) better (?) values. I think Howard Wyce is more fortunate in that the Spectator prints him. If only Woman or Woman's Own would be as generous, then, surely, all of us—from the over-worked low- to the under-paid high-brow (?) would be grateful.
I should like to see Victor Anant's article '"Pop" Fiction' published in 'Daydream.' You would get a better answer than this.—Yours faithfully,
Previous page
