Bynum 1

AP language and composition
09 September 2015 Quantity and quality summary In this essay the thesis is, "There are many unspoken postulates in literary criticism, one being that the more one writes, the less remarkable one’s work is apt to be." (King paragraph 1) This thesis is trying to tell us what the author is going to talk about throughout the whole essay (as for every thesis). He wants us to know that there are many assumptions in literary criticism but the one he will be talking about is the more authors write the worse their writing is. This author is trying to use different authors to show that the assumption is true sometimes and sometimes it isn't. He states, " Certainly no one is going to induct the mystery novelist John Creasey, author of 564 novels under 21 different pseudonyms, into the Literary Hall of Heroes; both he and his creations (the Toff, Inspector Roger West, Sexton Blake, etc.) have largely been forgotten." (King paragraph 2) In this quote he is trying to tell us that this author had hundreds of books and all of those have been forgotten. He had quantity but his quality wasn't as good. The author also claims, " Donna Tartt, one of the best American novelists to emerge in the last 50 years, has published just three novels since 1992." (King paragraph 8) This quote is showing us that this author only has a few books, but yet he is still one of the best American novelists. Here there was little quantity and very good quality. The author also reveals, " I imagine it was that way with Frederick Schiller Faust, better known as Max Brand (and best known as the creator of Dr. Kildare). He wrote at least 450 novels, a feat rendered more remarkable by his ill health and premature death at the age of 51. Alexandre Dumas wrote “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “The Three Musketeers” —