NOVELISTS AS SNOBS.

NOVELISTS AS SNOBS. Hemingway and Salinger had a tendency to rate people. I posted here on Mary McCarthy’s observation that Salinger and Hemingway divided the world into allies and enemies and that CATCHER IN THE RYE is “based on a scheme of exclusiveness.” Jonathan Leaf notes that “…many of the best novelists have been snobs and phonies…. Thackeray, in part as self-criticism, wrote his Book of Snobs. Arnold Bennett loved yachting and especially liked to dress to go yachting. Faulkner wore a pretend peg-leg for a time and claimed to have lost his leg in ‘the war’ — which he never served in.”

This entry was posted in Literature. Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to NOVELISTS AS SNOBS.

  1. Mary Jane Schaefer says:

    Perhaps each novel is a world of its own; each author a creator. After a while, he/she thinks creating makes the author a God. How to keep up the image, except by posing and judging?

  2. Philip says:

    I do think that having control of the fate of his characters does often go to the writer’s head.

  3. Pingback: NOVELISTS CONDESCENDING TO THEIR CHARACTERS. | Pater Familias

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *