Capitalists and financiers -- Fiction; Commercial crimes -- Fiction; London (England) -- Fiction; Mate selection -- Fiction; Satire
There is the review intended to sell a book,--which comes out
immediately after the appearance of the book, or sometimes before
it; the review which gives reputation, but does not affect the sale,
and which comes a little later; the review which snuffs a book out
quietly; the review which is to raise or lower the author a single
peg, or two pegs, as the case may be; the review which is suddenly to
make an author, and the review which is to crush him. An exuberant
Jones has been known before now to declare aloud that he would crush
a man, and a self-confident Jones has been known to declare that he
has accomplished the deed. Of all reviews, the crushing review is the
most popular, as being the most readable. When the rumour goes abroad
that some notable man has been actually crushed,--been positively
driven over by an entire Juggernaut's car of criticism till his
literary body be a mere amorphous mass,--then a real success has been
achieved, and the Alf of the day has done a great thing; but even
the crushing of a poor Lady Carbury, if it be absolute, is effective.
Such a review will not make all the world call for the "Evening
Pulpit," but it will cause those who do take the paper to be
satisfied with their bargain. Whenever the circulation of such a
paper begins to slacken, the proprietors should, as a matter of
course, admonish their Alf to add a little power to the crushing
department.
Lady Carbury had been crushed by the "Evening Pulpit." We may fancy
that it was easy work, and that Mr. Alf's historical Mr. Jones
was not forced to fatigue himself by the handling of many books
of reference. The errors did lie a little near the surface; and
the whole scheme of the work, with its pandering to bad tastes by
pretended revelations of frequently fabulous crime, was reprobated in
Mr. Jones's very best manner. But the poor authoress, though utterly
crushed, and reduced to little more than literary pulp for an hour
or two, was not destroyed. On the following morning she went to
her publishers, and was closeted for half an hour with the senior
partner, Mr. Leadham. "I've got it all in black and white," she said,
full of the wrong which had been done her, "and can prove him to
be wrong. It was in 1522 that the man first came to Paris, and he
couldn't have been her lover before that. I got it all out of the
'Biographie Universelle.' I'll write to Mr. Alf myself,--a letter to
be published, you know."
"Pray don't do anything of the kind, Lady Carbury."
"I can prove that I'm right."
"And they can prove that you're wrong."
"I've got all the facts,--and the figures."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account