Whatever a smart artist he is, whatever a complex

autobiography he writes, such an autobiographer has little

chance to trick readers, although some of them may be born
after him after a long time.

During my childhood, it was very common, in the so-called

educated and cultured circles, people priding their books and
possession thought less of Dickens compared to Thackeray,
though the latter sometimes pretended to tease his own
novels, full of good company. Besides, they, somehow, saw him
as a coarse agitator and comedian.

Whoever has read Riley’s tours of the country, particularly

those who have undergone the ordeal of catching trains,
greeting others, being dined, and living an uneven daily
schedule, will know these efforts consumed his flesh and burnt
his life more than anything else...