{Literary Criticism}[29th May 1988]

[Redbook5:130-131][19880529:1818]{Literary Criticism}[29th May 1988]

.1818

I have just survived with reasonable equanimity the experience of having my novel [2] described as a mass of unrelated facts by the first person* (other then me) to attempt to read it! Fortunately the examples she gave could be shown easily to be related to 'facts' previously introduced and clearly related, which she had forgotten.

I plan to show [2] in draft to two sorts of reader (apart from publishers): those who have an interest in the subject matter – such as the Canon [XQ],** my uncle [U],*** and [SX],**** to whom I have already sent '[xS]ine extracts – whom I shall pick; and those who ask to read it, who will pick themselves. The reaction of the three above to the extracts has been appreciative; all that the reaction of the latter group tells me is what kind of person may or may not appreciate it.

This first reader has been reading it at great speed, skipping forward (and back?) to try to maintain her interest; she wants an answer to all her questions now, and is not satisfied to be told that the answer will be available later. She says that she needs to know now in order to give her the impetus to go on. I suppose that she must prefer straightforward narrative without the element of mystery or suspense present in (for example) detective stories. The lesson – as she is able to talk with moderate conviction about musical works, novels,# etc. – is that the superficial appearance of knowledge often hides a lack of cultural depth.#*

*[[DY], one of [d]'s godmothers; see [Redbook5:124][19880527:2240b]{Perceptions of Jesus Christ}[27th May 1988].]

**[See [Redbook5:5A][19880126:0000][Extract from Letter to [XQ] (1)][26^th January 1988].]

***[See e.g [Redbook2:43-44][19740819:0000c]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued(4)]}[19^th August 1974], & al seq]

****[See [Redbook4:287][19880104:1622e]{Marital Crisis}[4th January 1988], & al seq]

#& Freud (but not Jung).

#*[This does seem a bit sweeping. She was an opera-lover; maybe an opera obsessive. There seems to be a particular type of female opera-lover, with another example of which the writer later had a brief and friendly affair, who is obsessive and knowledgeable about opera but not terribly bright. <20180309>]

[continues]

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