‘It is universally acknowledged’ that good creative writers do not write for prizes. They are driven by far nobler ideals; their muses come in many different forms and they are sometimes conscious of an important role in society.
That opening phrase is borrowed from Jane Austen who, when she used it in the opening statement of the novel Pride and Prejudice, did not mean it seriously, but used it with irony in mind. As she so cleverly dramatises in the plot, it is not a universal truth that every single gentleman in possession of a large fortune must be in search of a wife. On the contrary,
