A Different Time, a Different Place

Today’s avid young readers would be surprised to learn a few generations ago the novel enjoyed no place in the reading habits of “decent” people in this country. The turning point might have been World War I, for times of war bring about changes, sometimes borrowings from other countries. Food dishes, for example, and fashions of dress. Since hardship introduces perhaps more time to read, for lack of money to spend doing anything else, this period was a choice time for the popular novel’s introduction to America. Not only was reading cheap, but also fiction was an excellent place to bury one’s own distress caused by the ravages of war. One could read about the make-believe hardships of others, which ended up with satisfactory solutions.

The plots of novels, like all literature, then and now, present a struggle between good and evil. This includes short stories as well. They must have conflict and by the end of the story, the hero must have worked out the problem by logical means. The villain is not defeated by a bolt of lightning, but by the superior cunning of his nemesis.

I read novels in my childhood, for romance serials came out in the daily newspaper. I could hardly wait for the next chapter and I remember well the plot of one of them called The Blue Door. (Do not compare these stories with today’s soap operas, for that just does not compute.) They could not be termed great literature, but had the power to keep kids off the street (but those kids might not have had access to the newspaper serials), to teach the young reader about human nature, and for the child itching to write, to further knowledge for the process of writing. I was reading them by age twelve or so.

My mother knew I read these romances, and possibly she might have read them herself, but in secret. She never questioned my selection of reading material, so long as she knew I read the Bible too. I was brought up on the King James Bible, a great advantage to understanding Shakespeare later, for it is the same style of language. But I didn’t study Shakespeare till ninth grade. However, the purpose of reading the Bible is not to enable one to understand Shakespeare. That just happens to be a by-product.

Eventually novel reading became standard procedure in schools. By the time I graduated from high school, I’d studied some great classics, among them Silas Marner, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Little Women, “The Gift of the Magi,” several short stories of Edgar Allan Poe, and four Shakespearean plays; As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and Hamlet. But the bulk of my reading came from the Carnegie Library, across the street from the high school. I walked the mile home with my arms full of books to read. Each night I read the newspaper serial, the library books, and did my Latin assignment, of course. And dreamed of becoming a novelist.

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