Writers - The Limits of Literary Success

Okay, bear with me because my title probably seems a bit left field when you see it is derived from a Times Literary Supplement review, A writer with class: A new biography sets up the clash between Arnold Bennett and Virginia Woolf. I have not read Bennett, but I have heard of him. I learned more of him from the review:

The subtitle of Patrick Donovan’s Life of Arnold Bennett, Lost icon, bears witness to his approach to his subject: he is intent on reminding us that Bennett, once immensely wealthy and internationally celebrated, is now almost forgotten. Bennett was the author of dozens of volumes embracing a vast range of genres, from what we would now call literary fiction to fantasies, lighthearted pot-boilers, journals, travel books, collections of short stories and self-help books such as Literary Taste; How to form it and How to Live on 24 Hours a Day. He wrote successful plays and produced many millions of words of highly paid and influential journalism, in outlets ranging from Tit-Bits to the New Age, from the Evening Standard to the New York Times.

So much for literary success with the public. I wonder what his books were like.

sch 5/13/22