What does 'be safe of entertainment' mean?
Certainly, the reader is safer of entertainment in their hands than in those of the writers who take a malicious pleasure in representing the great figures of romance as patterns of the domestic virtues.

Does 'be safer of entertainment' means 'get entertainment more easily'?

Thank you for answering!Context:
Dr. W-R belongs to that school of historians which believes that human nature is not only about as bad as it can be, but a great deal worse; and certainly the reader is safer of entertainment in their hands than in those of the writers who take a malicious pleasure in representing the great figures of romance as patterns of the domestic virtues.
-----Thank you very much!

Question

What does 'be safe of entertainment' mean?
Certainly, the reader is safer of entertainment in their hands than in those of the writers who take a malicious pleasure in representing the great figures of romance as patterns of the domestic virtues.

Does 'be safer of entertainment' means 'get entertainment more easily'?

Thank you for answering!Context: 
Dr. W-R belongs to that school of historians which believes that human nature is not only about as bad as it can be, but a great deal worse; and certainly the reader is safer of entertainment in their hands than in those of the writers who take a malicious pleasure in representing the great figures of romance as patterns of the domestic virtues.
-----Thank you very much!

Answer

When I read it, I initially thought it was wrong and then I thought it was old. On checking, I discovered that it is from a 1919 novel by Somerset Maugham, an English writer.

"safe(r) of + noun" is definitely archaic.  My guess is that it means the same as "safer with".

It's a novel for C2 level students.

Answer

I am so thankful for your help!

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I agree very archaic. The phrase safer of entertainment seems to means "not used by" or abused by. That is the reader is safer than he/she would be with the modified writers: who take a malicious pleasure.

Definitely, cannot bin this one for conversational English.

Answer

The English phrasing is very awkward, and I'm not sure what is actually meant. I'll leave it to others to rewrite it for you. One comment on safer: -er is added to a word to indicate the comparative in English. So something is more safe than something else it is compared to.

Answers · 5

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