Show men end ard women F readers cs as c s novelist sees see them tho the of the avera average e woman 1 in tin the united states Is still aitho without ut aret arety or romantic lovers splendid huMi husbands ands the prospect for them in most caeg Is not bright there Is a great gulf in such a woman a n hp teen tier her life and her thoughts tier her io aspirations and novels about glorious feminine conquests nobilities anil and power compose a large part of her lotier loner necessitous being to a great extent t c n t she d dwells v eli s i in n and upon them I 1 AN would 0 i ild ne never v c r e expect x p act to sell a novel about a lonely and a nd defeated woman noman to women not unless it were wholly sentimental A sentimental novel in such a ca case se would be one where the woes boes the I 1 importance in of the woman were grossly exasperated A cold record of tact fact could have no success with them the question the presence of truth and beauty have no substance an overwhelming wh uli elming majority of women read for support for the illusion of an amelioration of their fates men lien when they read at all are different they are so various that no general classification Is possible sometimes engaged with my mall mail I 1 think men read mostly to discover the numbers of mistakes in the books they examine joseph in the american mercury |