How are the mighty fallen

How are the mighty fallen

Is there a pecking order in literature? Probably, to the purists there will always be.

But surely the most important aspect of any book is not its might, or the puissance of its ambition, but whether people read it. A book may be erudite, learned and witty, but if it runs to three thousand pages, fifteen volumes, or if it makes too many allusions to literature long past, it will probably end up decorating the shelves… Which is no bad thing. Lots of noble books decora...