Life, 1907-03-28 · page 22 of 24
Life — March 28, 1907 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the literary pretensions and hypocrisy of early 20th-century American culture. "The Literary Zoo" attacks three targets: **1. Fake cultured readers:** The essay mocks people who claim intellectual sophistication by memorizing authors' names without actually reading their work—a sign of shallow social climbing rather than genuine literacy. **2. Publishing excess:** The piece critiques publishers flooding the market with mediocre work faster than readers (even professional critics) can keep up, making "keeping current" with literature impossible and somewhat ridiculous. **3. Literary snobbery:** A New York magazine editor admits he doesn't know Owen Wister's acclaimed Western fiction—only knows him "by reputation"—exemplifying how pretentious figures fake cultural knowledge. The closing anecdote attributes a Mark Twain quip dismissing a woman as neither intelligent nor unintelligent, but rather "the sort of woman that would keep a parrot"—implying she's decorative but vacuous. The satire suggests that both shallow readers and dismissive critics inhabit the same ridiculous literary culture.
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