Read the passage from "how should one read a book? ” then turn from your blurred and littered pages to the opening pages of some great novelist—defoe, jane austen, hardy. now you will be better able to appreciate their mastery. if the passage were presented as a play, how would it most likely differ from its current genre? the author might place defoe, austen, and hardy in a setting on jupiter. the author might go into detail about the lives of defoe, austen, and hardy. the author might write a plot in which defoe, austen, and hardy solve a crime. the author might include dialogue for the roles of defoe, austen, and hardy.