Need less depth in J R Ewing's first novel (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
jane eyre
'novel' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'need less depth in j r ewing's first' is the wordplay.
'less' is a deletion indicator (less can mean minus).
'depth' becomes 'd' (abbreviation in geometry).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'j' becomes 'jay' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ewing's first' becomes 'e' (jst letter of 'ewing').
'need' with 'd' taken out is 'nee'.
'nee' going inside 'jay' is 'janeey'.
'janeey'+'r'+'e'='JANE EYRE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for jane eyre that I've seen before include "Novel by 6 14" , "Book by Charlotte Bronte" , "Classic English book" , "English classic novel" , "Famous English novel" .)