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1、TheHundredWorstBooksandTheyThatWroteThemAsithasbeenfoundpossibletotabulate,tothesatisfactionofsomepeopleatleast,theworld'sHundredBestBooks,so,twentyyearsago,itmighthavebeenpossibletoenumerateandsetdownthehundredleastworthythathadthenappearedundertheimprintofreputablepublishers.Theeno
2、rmousoutputsincethattime,however,hasmadesuchataskimpossibleinaliteralsenses.Eventhemostpatientandploddingstudent,tabulatingforhisdoctoratedegree,wouldsinkappalledbeforetheherculeantaskofselectingthehundredworstfromthethousandssufficientlypoor.Thecausesforthisunprecedentederuptionofin
3、feriorliteraturehavebeenseveral,andtheinventionoftheAmericantypewritingmachineissurelynottheleastofthem.WhenoneofthefirstofthesemachineswasshowntoGeorgeEliotbyanOxfordprofessor,sheexclaimedwithpropheticfervor:"Ah,Icanseethatitwillberesponsibleformanyabadbook,andwehavepooronesenoughas
4、itis."Therecanbenodoubt,thatthemerefacilitatingofthemechanicallaborofauthorshiphasinducedmanyyoungpeoplewhowereotherwiseunemployedtotrytheirhandsatliterature,andonlytoooftentheyhaveproducedwhatotheridleyoungsterslikethemselvesfoundreadableenough.Aclassofephemeralfictionhasresultedwhi
5、chmightwellbecalledthatofthestenographers'school,consistingofnovelsmadebythealmostunassistedeffortsofthemachines.Thegreatincreaseofpublishingfirms,manyofwhicharefranklyandsolelyinterestedinsatisfyingthelowestelementofthereadingpublic,hashad,nodoubt,muchtodowiththisplagueofbookswhich,
6、ratedatnothing,wouldbeoverestimated.Butitseemsprobablethatthepubliclibrary,despitemanyagoodturnithasdoneforculture,isevenmoreguiltyinthisgeneraldebauchingofpublictaste.Peoplewill百本最劣书及其作者至少让某些人满意，一一列举世界“百本最佳图书”已证明是一种可能；同样的，20年以前，人们还有可能清点并记录下有名望的出版商推出的最没有价值的书籍。然而自那时起这类作品数且庞大，想要数清楚已经不可
7、能了。在成千上万相当糟糕的书中选出最差的一百本实在是个无比艰巨的任务，就是为了拿博士学位而编制表格名单的最耐心的孜孜不倦的学生，也会对之望而生畏。造成这种低档文学的空前喷发的原因有好几种，其中不可等闲视之的是美国发明了打字机。当年。一位牛津教授把最早一批产品中的一台展示给乔治·艾略特看，艾略特以富于预见性的激烈态度惊呼道:“我料到它会成为产生诸多劣书的罪魁祸首，而眼前我们的坏书已经不少了。”写作的机械劳动得到辅助，这无疑引诱了一些无所事事的年轻人染指文学，而大多数情况下他们只出产和他们一样游手好闲的小青年们读得进的作品。由此一种可被称为速记派的短命小说应运而生，
8、几乎完全倚仗打字机的大力
