QUESTIONABLE NOVELS.
(To nos EDITOR OF THE "SrscrsT02.-1 SIR,—Doubtless you, as a critic and an inspector and director of critics, are not a little perplexed with the question of what should be done with noxious fiction. You would like to express the disgust which you feel; you hesitate to write because to notice would be to advertise, would rouse curiosity, and might result in doing more harm than good. May I make a suggestion ? For some time past you have given your readers a paragraph headed " Readable Novels "; " readable," as you use it, means " what may be read " as well as "what can be read." Why should you not add another paragraph, " Novels Returned to the Publisher "? It might possibly shame the tradesmen who foist these noxious wares on the public ; it might at least relieve you from the presence of such books in the future ; and as a warning to the public it
would be at least neutral.—I am, Sir, &c., Z.
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