Writers and English literature

Contemporary Review, Spring, 2007 by Rebecca Woodforde

Writers, Readers, and Reputations: Literary Life in Britain 1870-1918. Philip Waller. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]85.00. xiii 1181 pages. ISBN 0-19-820677-1. The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. David Scott Kastan, editor in chief. Oxford University Press. [pounds sterling]330.00. Five volumes: xxxiii 478; v 522; v 518; v 533; v 537. ISBN 0-19-5169212.

That without authors there would be no literature is a truism that underlies the two titles reviewed here. In Mr Waller's case his aim has been to look at a unique period in English literary history, the latter part of the nineteenth and the early years of the twentieth centuries, when Britain had a mass readership due to virtually universal literacy. Book publishing was flourishing; prices were falling; and magazine and journals were proliferating. In addition there was no widespread cinema to compete: the printed (and increasingly illustrated) word was king.

Mr Waller's concern is not so much with who wrote what and when but with the whole world of writing and reading. His is really a social history of writing and reading and he is manifestly fascinated with delineating the world of literature. He admits that he has spent longer in researching than he intended but the result is a cornucopia of information, asides and insights: like Gibbon, the footnotes are in themselves (almost) worth the purchase price. Little escapes his attention: the work of editors and the Society of Authors, the comic novel, the guides for creating libraries (especially amongst working men), literary competitions, the creation of a 'literary canon' of 'great works' and the influence this had on life, the movement to memorialise dead authors on specific anniversaries (with us still in papers and on radio and television), the influence of foreign writers, the role of advertising, the role of 'the famous writer', the role of journalism, the new fad for keeping journals and correspondence for future publication (and profit) and the equally new granting of honours (by the Crown and academia) to writers, the place of famous writers amongst the ruling class and aristocracy, the lecture tours (made famous by Dickens and hated by Thackeray), the question of copyright and literary agents, the role of writers as far-seeing sages (fictions many still like to adopt), and a section devoted to 'best-sellers' of which hardly any are read today.

The above list, whilst long, is far from exhaustive. It shows what is in store for the student with a large spending limit on his credit card, strong arms and much time. The truth is that it is easier to write a larger book than a smaller one, especially for academics. Whilst probably too large to appeal to undergraduates it will appeal to those who find books, bookmen and literary civilisation interesting. The best praise for this book is to say that it is interesting.

The next part of this review is devoted not to one book but to the five volumes of The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. The Encyclopedia, which originated with O.U.P. New York, is an international effort although the bulk of the contributors are from the United States. There are just over 500 essays which are arranged alphabetically. The bulk of contributions is on major authors but there are contributions for lesser known writers although none for Mrs Humphry Ward, William Hale White, Hugh Walpole, Marie Corelli or Stacey Aumonier. There are also essays on 'themes, movements, genres or institutions whose impact on the writing or the reading of literature has been significant'. Such entries include almanacs, bluestockings, circulating libraries, epistolary novels, Grub Street (the phrase, not the publishing house), modernism, Puritanism and so on. Most surprisingly there is no entry on the Church of England of which most undergraduates know so little. There is an extensive chronology and substantial index in the last volume.

However, the value of any collection lies in the individual essays. The quality is, like the curate's famous egg, good in parts. In the entry on Arnold Bennett the writer refers to The Card as one of the author's London novels whereas it was set in the Five Towns. Occasionally, as with so much modern writing, one senses writers are not at home with religious topics. In the entry for Sir John Betjeman the contributor, in an otherwise excellent article, states that Sir John 'devoutly observed the sacraments' by which he presumably means that Sir John regularly received communion during the Eucharist. In the entry for T.E. Lawrence, the writer states that Lawrence received his first class degree because of his thesis whereas the mark given the thesis was put alongside those for the papers he sat. In the entry for Tolkien the writer says that her subject was 'elected ... as the ... Chair of Anglo-Saxon' whereas she means he was elected 'Professor' and held the chair. The editor also states in his introduction that Northern Ireland is part of Great Britain whereas it is, of course, part of the United Kingdom along with Great Britain. These are minor points but one does not expect to find them in volumes published by the Press.