Boileau

So I spent yesterday reading his complete works, and, as with LaRochefoucauld, I was a little disappointed. The truism about Boileau is that he was a second-rank writer, but I don't think it's about quality, I think it's about the type of output. He didn't write any real books -- he wrote poetry, he wrote short plays, he wrote reviews, he wrote letters, but even his books are collections of short pieces.

Well, chalk it up to experience. For now, I must content myself with Anatole France. In 25 volumes.