Life, 1888-09-06 · page 1 of 14
Life — September 6, 1888 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine, September 6, 1888 The page features a section titled "NOT FATTENING" presenting a humorous exchange about literature preferences. Mr. A. (from somewhere) asks Miss R. of Boston which English poets she most admires. She responds that she prefers "The Lake School and Scott" for their "enduring mental food," but dismisses other writers as insufficiently stimulating. Mr. P. from Chicago, having heard "the last dozen cords" (likely a reference to recent literary discussion), comments sarcastically: "Gosh! what a diet! No wonder she's thin." The joke satirizes both pretentious literary taste and the notion that mental sustenance from "serious" literature is less nourishing than other forms of reading—implying that Miss R.'s intellectual diet literally fails to fatten her. It's a Victorian-era jab at highbrow literary snobbery.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OLUME XII. NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 6, 1888. NUMBER 297. Entered at the New York Pust Office as Second-Class Mail Matter. Copyright, 1888, by Mircwmit & Miter, NOT FATTENING. Mr. Ac: APTER BROWSING, WHICH OF THE ENGLISH POETS DO YoU MosT ADMIRE? Miss R. (of Boston, thoughtfully): THE LAKE SCHOOL AND ScoTT; BUT FOR ENDURING MENTAL FOOD, WHICH GENTLY NOURISHES, BUT DOES NOT EXCITE, I PREFER Cratne’s Taces, Mr. P. (from Chicago, who has heard the last dozen words): GOs! WHAT A pieT! No WONDER SHES THIN, comicbooks.com