> I read The Rector of Justin in high school, and a few other novels
> in my early 20s.
Exactly my experience. He was a really good writer, of the quiet sneak-up-on-you kind, and had a sly unostentatious way of realizing the milieu and the manner of his characters. No fancy adjectives, no visible Herculean labor at the typewriter, but you closed the book thinking that you'd grown up in his world.
I can still see that campus. Don't remember a thing about the plot. But then plot is overrated -- say I, who have no gift for it.
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Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org http://fakesprogress.blogspot.com