letters.” He could abandon his patron and approach the large 
homogenized public of a market society in a consistent and 
complacent role. So that with both sight and sound given 
homogeneous treatment, the writer was able to approach the 
mass public. What he had to offer the public was equally a 
homogenized body of common experience such as the movie 
finally took over from the novel. Dr. Johnson devoted his 
Rambler no. 4  (March 31, 1750) to this theme:

          The works of fiction, with which the present 
     generation seems more particularly delighted, are such as 
     exhibit life in its true state, diversified only by accidents 
     that daily happen in the world, and influenced by passions 
     and qualities which are really to be found in conversing 
     with mankind.