In response to Keith in response to Stefan , on the rational moral efficacy of novel-reading, particularly in reference to men:
“But you never read novels, I dare say?” [said Catherine]“Why not?” [replied Mr. Tilney]
“Because they are not clever enough for you-gentlemen read better books.”
“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
—Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (1803)
Which, Stefan, is not a rebuke for your Janeite laxity, nor for your insensitivity to the delight of Austenesque plots, nor for your failure to appreciate the choreography of Regency society . . . not even for even your inexcusable indifference to Anne Eliot. It is merely a way of seconding Keith’s proposal (excepting step 1)—Go out and read the Patrick O’Brian novels ! I’m sure Austen would approve:
“‘And what are you reading, Miss—?’ ‘Oh! It is only a novel!’ replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame . . . . In short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humor, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language.”
