by Philip Yaffe
When I am introduced at social gatherings, the host or hostess usually says: “Hi, I want you to meet Philip Yaffe. He is a professional writer.” I almost always get the same response: “Oh, really. What type of novels do you write?” In other words, people automatically associate the term “writer” with “literature”; as if fiction were the only type of writing. It isn’t. And for most ordinary people, such as myself, it is the least important, yet it always seems to take pride of place.
Scholastic snobbery has a lot to do with this.
Virtually every secondary school and many universities require students to take courses in literature. However, virtually no one who takes such
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