New-York tribune., 1870-04-15
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LlTER1PY DIILY BREtD.
Goethe wrote 70 Schiller one day, " e make
money by our poor books and ever since
his time the fraternity of authors has been
making the same complaint Perhaps authors
! are like parents, and always make the most OF
those children whom nobody else caresses. ii
they could have had their own way, some lit
| erary judgments would plainly have been re-
versed; we should have been doomed to read
Paradise Rcgaincd," instead of paradise
Lost and Petrarcl's Latin epic of africa"
instead Of his sonncts; while Yirgis Ineld"
| would have been given over to fire. instead OF
| being only damaged by water in the way OF
! translation. Bat, fortunately, it IL only the
! business OF authors to earn their fame, and
that of other people to award it; as the judi
cious Spanish proverb points out that 1t Is
| impossible for the same man to ring the bells
and to wall, in the procession.
The periodical press is the culprit on whom
! it is at present the fashion to cast all the sup
posed Indifference to good books. For instance,
the last number of the American Booksellers
"Guidar has an editorial column of lamenta-
ton over the preOccupation of The public mind
! by nrwspaDcrs. Turning to its French CORE
| spOndcnce we find the same evil mOurned III
| Paris; passing thence to its German letter, we
discover Just the same lament from Leipsic.
'The evcr-increasing quantity of periodicals
"and dailies threatens TO swallow up all other
literature" But this very form OF expression
recognizes that "peIodicals and dailico" are
themselves a part of literature. And if the
literature is good il cannot be spoiled by being
published at rather shorter intervals.
.in4l ,s nl
IF mans food is wholesome he does not
usually object to it for being freshly cooked
every day, instead of being made up once III
six months, like the bread in an Alpine hut
Ii it il not wholesome, he ought not to
like it ut all. If, for instance, the public mind
had let itself down to the level of the AmeIi-
can newspapers of fifty years ago it would
have been a calamity indeed. But the public
mind has not stopped to the newspapers; the
newspapers have risen to the level OF the
Dublic mind; and the best newspapers have
actually raised that level In the vast extent
of modern culture the man of sense cannot
find time TO read through the whole works OF
Cicero annually-like Sir William Jones-for
he must read his daily paper also so much
the better for him. And the same newspaper
which takes partially the place of Cicero to
the scholar will take partially the place OF
pipe and mug to the most ignorant rustic.
"However unpalatable it may be- says the
booksellers Guide, "tne great fact cannot be
"ovcrlooked, that the mass of the people get
"all their reading matter from the periodical
"press.n Why is it unpalatable ? Suppose the
reading matter to be good, does it hurt the
mass of the people to have it in newspaper
folio at four cents, instead OF black letter
folio at four or four hundred pounds sterlingf
But you say, the reading matter is not so
good Al, there you beg the whole question.
The American News Company does injustice
to lis own wares.
OF course the great works of literature are
exceptions to all rules. You do not expect
them in the newspapers, forl you do not eX-
pect them anywhere. But You are as likely
to find them in tho newspapers as anywhere
else; and, wherever they appear, they make
their way into the newspapers at last And
if good reading matter means careful and
thorough literary work, the periodical press
undoubtedly gets the best of it in these days.
Instead of tending TO dilution, periodical lit
erature tends to concentration, so that man
now puts into an essay what he would once have
spun out into a volume. Instead of tending
10 UlaCCuldcyJ III lcHuS to dCCuldCg, loI d llc
in book will pass unnoticed, where lie in
a newspaper would be cOntradicted by dozen
other newspapers. If you write for a million
readers you write for n million critics, and are
under so much the heavier bonds to command
their confidence. You get outside of all
clques, and appeal to an audience that cannot
all be hoodwinked or cajoed. Canova said to
a young artist, "Do not be so particular about
" the light upon your statue it is the light
90 of the public square that will test its value"
The periodical writer, and especially the jour
nalist, lives always in the light OF the public
square.
The very highest works of literary art need,
no doubt a sphere of privacy and tranquility.
They form, like crystals, in silence and
the dark. But when the time comes to ex-
hibit them to the world, the periodical press
is what calls attention to their value, and me-
dates between them and their public. If some
people substitute the newspaper for the book,
far more are drawn to the book by the news
paper. Where periodical literature most
fiourishcs, there most books are sold. And the
need of competing with the newspaper i'm
parts a life and freshness to the most labori-
ous literary works of the present day The
only " standard works. to which periodical
literature il fatal are those which Lady Nor
gan defined as Z" books that would allow the
world to stand still forever
4 BREEZY TALK.