LITERARY TASTE: HOW TO FORM IT With Detailed Instructions for Collecting a Complete Library of English Literature by ARNOLD BENNETT 1913 CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE AIM CHAPTER II YOUR PARTICULAR CASE CHAPTER III WHY A CLASSIC IS A CLASSIC CHAPTER IV WHERE TO BEGIN CHAPTER V HOW TO READ A CLASSIC CHAPTER VI THE QUESTION OF STYLE CHAPTER VII WRESTLING WITH AN AUTHOR CHAPTER VIII SYSTEM IN READING CHAPTER IX VERSE CHAPTER X BROAD COUNSELS CHAPTER XI AN ENGLISH LIBRARY: PERIOD I CHAPTER XII AN ENGLISH LIBRARY: PERIOD II CHAPTER XIII AN ENGLISH LIBRARY: PERIOD III CHAPTER XIV MENTAL STOCKTAKING CHAPTER I THE AIM At the beginning a misconception must be removed from the path. Many people, if not most, look on literary taste as an elegant accomplishment, by acquiring which they will complete themselves, and make themselves finally fit as members of a correct society. They are secretly ashamed of their ignorance of literature, in the same way as they would be ashamed of their ignorance of etiquette at a high entertainment, or of their inability to ride a horse if suddenly called upon to do so. There are certain things that a man ought to know, or to know about, and literature is one of them: such is their idea. They have learnt to dress themselves with propriety, and to behave with propriety on all occasions; they are fairly "up" in the questions of the day; by industry and enterprise they are succeeding in their vocations; it behoves them, then, not to forget that an acquaintance with literature is an indispensable part of a self-respecting man's personal baggage. Painting doesn't matter; music doesn't matter very much. But "everyone is supposed to know" about literature. Then, literature is such a charming distraction! Literary taste thus serves two purposes: as a certificate of correct culture and as a private pastime. A young professor of mathematics, immense at mathematics and games, dangerous at chess, capable of Haydn on the violin, once said to me, after listening to some chat on books, "Yes, I must take up literature." As though saying: "I was rather forgetting literature. However, I've polished off all these other things. I'll have a shy at literature now."