Q: Who Was C.S. Lewis's Favorite Bad Writer?

A: Amanda McKittrick Ros (1860-1939), Victorian scribbler and the most awful writer in the English language. (Also reputed to admire her works were Mark Twain and Aldous Huxley.) Lewis’s literary group, which included J.R.R. Tolkien, held competitions to see who could read her work aloud the longest, with a straight face.

According to Nick Page, author of In Search of the World’s Worst Writers, her second novel Delina Delaney “begins with possibly the most baffling opening sentence in any literature”:

“Have you ever visited that portion of Erin’s plot that offers its sympathetic soil for the minute survey and scrutinous examination of those in political power, whose decision has wisely been the means before now of converting the stern and prejudiced, and reaching the hand of slight aid to share its strength in augmenting its agricultural richness?”

Amanda McKittrick Ros specialized in romance novels, with plenty of trembling bosoms, longing looks, and lots and lots of alliteration. Here’s an infamous exclamation from her first book, Irene Iddesleigh, published by her husband as a wedding anniversary gift:

“Speak! Irene! Wife! Woman! Do not sit in silence and allow the blood that now boils in my veins to ooze through cavities of unrestrained passion and trickle down to drench me with its crimson hue!”

And then there’s her poetry:

“Dear Lord the day of eggs is here”

As Smithsonian magazine put it, “Amanda McKittrick Ros predicted she would achieve lasting fame as a novelist. Unfortunately, she did.”

Ah, Amanda, you’re so bad you’re good.



More info about Amanda McKittrick Ros on this Wikipedia page.

Comments

Lidian said…
I now want to go read everything Amanda ever wrote. I love bad poetry and fiction, especially the oldies (but baddies).

Did you ever see an anthology of really bad poems called (I think) The Stuffed owl? it is really great. It features the fabulous Julia Moore, Sweet Singer of Michigan. And an ode to a big wheel of cheese that was exhibited in (??) the 1850s? in Toronto. "Hail to thee, o Queen of Cheese!" is the first line I believe (clearly it struck me deeply)
September 28, 2009
P.L. Frederick said…
No, I didn't know about The Stuffed Owl, so thanks for bringing it to my attention, Lidian. I added a link to it in the blog posting above. You got me at "queen of cheese." I'm getting myself a copy!
September 28, 2009
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