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Clearing out my office after 25 years of teaching writing at university, I am faced with the dilemma of what books to retain and what books to discard. With non-fiction it is relatively easy: keep those reference books that might prove useful, such as the Oxford Guide to Philosophy or Primates of the World, but with fiction it is harder to decide.
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‘To be corrupted by totalitarianism,’ George Orwell wrote. ‘one does not have to live in a totalitarian country. The mere presence of certain ideas can spread a kind of poison that makes one subject after another impossible for literary purposes. Wherever there is an enforced orthodoxy – or even two orthodoxies, as often happens – good writing stops.’