Nicely chosen language

[polecat]

In the pocket of his waterproof coat was a novel from the circulating library. It was not one of the hundred best books, nor was it a detective story. It was a circulating-library novel of exactly that sort that many intellectual people nowadays despise so amazingly. And yet it was probably a book in which an educated gentlewoman had shown a very fair knowledge of human nature, set off by a little mild wit, and expressed in nicely chosen language. He liked that sort of thing, at times when he did not feel strong enough for the best that has been thought or said.

И в Англии-то эта разновидность литературы едва выживала - а в СССР, видимо, не было даже единичных аналогов. А между тем нельзя сказать, что советская жизнь не допускала модальностей иронии и мягкого юмора: кинематограф это опровергает. Вероятно, главная причина все в том же "больше, чем поэт".