Austen Quote by Julian Barnes
“Great books are readable anyway. Dickens is readable. Jane Austen is readable. John Updike's readable. Hawthorne's readable. It's a meaningless term. You have to go the very extremes of literature, like Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake," before you get a literary work that literally unreadable.”
About This Quote
Most literature is accessible; only extreme experimental works become truly unreadable.
In simple terms: Readability is the norm, not the exception.
Key Takeaway
Complexity can alienate readers.
Themes
literature
readability
complexity
canon
Mood
analytical
wry
Type
critical
observational
When to use this quote
- a book club discussing classic novels
- a professor teaching modernist texts
- a reader confronting a challenging novel
Key Concepts
publishing
reader engagement
Practical Applications
- literary criticism
- reading pedagogy
Questions to Reflect On
- Why do we label some works 'unreadable'?
- How does difficulty affect literary value?
![“[Jane] Austen was not a novelist for nothing: she knew that our stories are what make us human, and that listening to someone else's stories -- entering into their feelings, validating their experiences -- is the highest way of acknowledging their humanity, the sweetest form of usefulness.” quote by William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/2bb/william-deresiewicz-15471_austen_jane-austen-was-not-a-novelist-for-nothi_62623.jpg)
