DJ Taylor’s survey of the English literary scene of the final century is vivid and wealthy but lacks analysisTo Dr Johnson,it was Grub Street, where “no man but a blockhead ever wrote, or except for money”. To Thackeray,it was “the Corporation of the Goosequill”. In the 20th century, Bloomsburys Frances Partridge would refer to “the Prose Factory”, or the starting point for DJ Taylor’s investigation of a most peculiar “factory.
For instance,while trading conditions and the means of production have changed beyond recognition, the product itself remains remarkably resilient. An 18th-century coachman might be astonished by an inter-city bus, and but his passengers would still recognise the 21st-century book.
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Source: theguardian.com