Release date is 2005-04-26

Wilfred Whitten's prose -- Ugliness in fiction -- Letters of Queen Victoria -- French publishers -- Wordsworth's single lines -- Novelists and agents -- The novel of the season -- German expansion -- The book-buyer -- Joseph Conrad and the Athenæum -- The professors -- Mrs. Humphry Ward's heroines -- W.W. Jacobs and Aristophanes -- Kenneth Grahame -- Anatole France -- Intimations of immortality -- Mallarmé, Bazin, Swinburne -- The ruined season -- "Ecce homo" -- Henry Ospovat -- French and British academies -- Poe and the short story -- Middle-class -- The potential public -- H.G. Wells -- Tchehkoff -- The Surrey labourer -- Swinburne -- The Sevenpennies -- Meredith -- St. John Hankin -- Unclean books -- Trollope's methods -- Chesterton and Lucas -- Official recognition of poetry -- Artists and critics -- Rudyard Kipling -- Censorship by the libraries [1909] -- Censorship by the libraries [1910] -- Brieux -- C.E. Montague -- Publishers and authors -- Tourgeniev and Dostoievsky -- John Galsworthy -- Suppressions in "De Profundis" -- Holiday reading -- The British Academy of Letters -- Unfinished perusals -- Mr. A.C. Benson -- The literary periodical -- The length of novels -- Artists and money -- Henri Becque -- Henry James -- English literary criticism -- Mrs. Elinor Glyn -- W.H. Hudson -- Neo-impressionism and literature -- Books of the year -- "The new Machiavelli" -- Success in journalism -- Marguerite Audoux -- John Masefield -- Lectures and state performances -- A play of Tchehkoff's -- Sea and slaughter -- A book in a railway accident -- "Fiction" and "literature."

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"Books and Persons; Being Comments on a Past Epoch, 1908-1911" by Arnold Bennett is a collection of critical essays written in the early 20th century. The book compiles a series of articles that Bennett penned for a weekly publication, where he reflects on various literary works, authors, and the state of literature during that period, exploring themes of aesthetics, criticism, and the responsibilities of writers and publishers. The opening of the work sets the stage for Bennett's critical voice, as he discusses the contributions of the writer Wilfred Whitten and his perspectives on prose and critical writing. Bennett establishes his stance on the literary landscape of his time, implying the challenges faced by serious authors in a world often captivated by less substantial works. He emphasizes the importance of genuine prose and expresses a mix of admiration and critical insight towards his contemporaries, hinting at a broader commentary on literature’s evolution and the importance of artistic integrity. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

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