O no, it's another 100 Best Books List
Robert McCrum's list.
Do we not, my dearios, expect somebody who sets himself up as SRS literary critic to have some knowledge of the History of the Novel? No? In the century that witnessed the making of the English novel, the genre was almost exclusively the work of upper- or middle-class English writers, predominantly male, and often with private means, living in the British Isles. Their novels were addressed to an elite minority, and expressed the concerns of a particular society.
WOT.
As I have heretofore remarked, probably somewhat tediously in the number of reiterations, the novel was a despised literary form as something that, shock horror, actually made money for its authors and appealed to the general reading public (Richardson's Pamela read aloud in local communities, the soap opera of its day). It was only once people started giving it cred and respectability that your more elite types started dabbling in a genre associated with 'scribbling women' and catchpenny entertainers (except in cases such as e.g. Scott, where they had lost money and needed to make some pronto). These humble origins are, in fact, mentioned by McCrum later in the article but I guess he considers that he is large & contains multitudes and very well then, he contradicts himself.
The gender thing is noted in the response by Rachel Cooke, though even she disses on e.g. Fanny Burney and Maria Edgworth, or Ann Radcliffe, by leaving that gaping hiatus in late C18th/early 19th writers. (Oh yes, and maybe women wouldn't choose The 39 Steps, because it's nowhere as good as Mr Standfast).
Neither of them mention Rebecca West. Shocking. Also, why he be dissing on Bennett? I suppose the neglect of Mitchison is to be expected.
All right, you will not find me (I hope) compiling lists of the 100 Best Books, even with the proviso of according to my humble judgement and the whole exercise strikes me as pretty much spurious. This entry was originally posted at http://oursin.dreamwidth.org/2321473.html. Please comment there using OpenID. View
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