Automobile Quote by Raymond Chandler
“The reading public is intellectually adolescent at best, and it is obvious that what is called ''significant literature'' will only be sold to this public by exactly the same methods as are used to sell it toothpaste, cathartics and automobiles.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: The State of Literature, 1950
Popular literature is marketed like consumer goods, limiting depth.
In simple terms: Books are sold like products, not ideas.
Key Takeaway
Seek literature beyond mass‑market.
Themes
literature
culture
commercialism
Mood
critical
skeptical
Type
literary
analytical
When to use this quote
- book clubs
- academic reading
- publishing industry
Key Concepts
mass media
censorship
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you find substantive works?
- What role should critics play?
A Different Perspective
Commercial pressures can stifle artistic innovation.
![“Hammett was the ace performer... He is said to have lacked heart; yet the story he himself thought the most of [The Glass Key] is the record of a man's devotion to a friend. He was spare, frugal, hard-boiled, but he did over and over again what only the best writers can ever do at all. He wrote…” quote by Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/882/raymond-chandler-629_dashiel-hammett_hammett-was-the-ace-performer-he-is-said_20171.jpg)
![“He [James Cain] is every kind of writer I detest...a Proust in greasy overalls, a dirty little boy with a piece of chalk and a board fence and nobody looking.” quote by Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/614/raymond-chandler-629_cain_he-james-cain-is-every-kind-of-writer-i_41185.jpg)
