Yes.
You have no doubt that that was an improper story?
From the literary point of view it was highly improper. It is impossible for a man of literature to judge it otherwise, by literature meaning treatment, selection of subject, and the like. I thought the treatment rotten and the subject rotten.
You are of opinion, I believe, [16] ]that there is no such thing as an immoral book?
Yes.
May I take it that you think “The Priest and the Acolyte” was not immoral?
It was worse; it was badly written.
Was not the story that of a priest who fell in love with a boy who served him at the altar, and the boy was discovered in the priest’s room, and a scandal arose?
I have read it only once, in November last, and nothing will induce me to read it again.
Did you think the story blasphemous?