ay be
a nuisance; but if we wish it to be a drama, it is an essential. It
may often happen, no doubt, that a drama may be written by somebody
else which we like very little. But we should like it still less if the
author came before the curtain every hour or so, and forced on us the
whole trouble of inventing the next act. A man has control over many
things in his life; he has control over enough things to be the hero of
a novel. But if he had control over everything, there would be so much
hero that there would be no novel. And the reason why the lives of the
rich are at bottom so tame and uneventful is simply that they can
choose the events. They are dull because they are omnipotent. They
fail to feel adventures because they can make the adventures. The thing
which keeps life romantic and full of fiery possibilities is the
existence of these great plain limitations which force all of us to
meet the things we do not like or do not expect. It is vain for the
supercilious moderns to talk of being in uncongenial surroundings. To
be in a romance is to be in uncongenial surroundings. To be born into
this earth is to be born into uncongenial surroundings, hence to be
born into a romance. Of all these great limitations and frameworks
which fashion and create the poetry and variety of life, the family is
the most definite and important. Hence it is misunderstood by the
moderns, who imagine that romance would exist most perfectly in a
complete state of what they call liberty. They think that if a man
makes a gesture it would be a startling and romantic matter that the
sun should fall from the sky. But the startling and romantic thing
about the sun is that it does not fall from the sky. They are seeking
under every shape and form a world where there are no limitations--that
is, a world where there are no outlines; that is, a world where there
are no shapes. There is nothing baser than that infinity. They say
they wish to be, as strong as the universe, but they really wish the
whole universe as weak as themselves.

XV On Smart Novelists and the Smart Set

In one sense, at any rate, it is more valuable to read bad literature
than good literature. Good literature may tell us the mind of one man;
but bad literature may tell us the mind of many men. A good novel tells
us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about
its author. It does much more than that, it tells us the truth about
its readers;