The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-10-27
A TALK WITH 4 NovELrsr
Boston Herald.7

els the other day found him busiIy a, gagged in his literary workshop. C.Ik. some celebrated scribblers, Mir. F .-IIs
 does not apparently consider a barren
 garret essential to literary achievernea.
 for his "workshopn appeared bv 1e
 means destitute of the comforts ana -.
 uries of civilized existence As the -ov.
 elist came hospitably forward to :he Do..
 tier-hangings of the apartment to rece,y,
 his caller, II was observed that he cad
 grown just trile stouter in his E.ro.
 pesn wanderings, and that his heavy
 mustache had rather more pronounce e tnge of gray. A little pile of note paper copy lay on his desk: he had ceasei
 writing in the middle of paragraph
 !" Your new novel, l suppose, Mir. How. els z was asked, after an apology for he
 untimely interruption.
 "fes. it IS the opening of it." was n. reply. It will deal with American ch r. aeters, but II IS somewhat premature .o say anything more about il at presen,. You see have only reached the si.:v. seventh page"
 The reporter glanced a, the halfwr.- ten take" of copy. The chirography was of moderately fine, free, rum as variety, with plenty of space between Ike lines.
 My working hours" continued N
 Howells in response to inquiries. are from Q a. m. 10 pm. dine al 2. n. and am man of leisure for the res. ef the cay. On an average cover aboe, twelve of those half sheets Tn the course of morning there are times when -o more work, as in supplying the conc.ua- ing chapters of Modern Instance. 1 turned out some twenty-five pages De. day. but that IS exceptional. One or he pages. l should say. might make a suck (twentv iinesb of nonpareil You see write very deliberately indeed. Yet . do a great deal of revising, changing words. making elisions. insertions, etc. some times rewrite whole chapter ard l have on occasions condensed a chapter into paragraph. The manuscript O: A toregone Conclusion was entirely rewritten. and, in some respects. l think its workmanship is better than that ot my other books
 should think, Mr. Howells." salc the reporter. that, CT the completion of long novel, you would find II very necessary to take much more time for recreation than you are won, to g.ar: yourself
 Well, have always been a believer Tn the gospel of work for myself. as well as for other people. fail 10 see that. long terms of intellectual inactivity are benehclal. l. seems to me that they are injurious instead. There IS always | re- luctance about turning to work again. and the day appolned for the resumption ot the per IS apt to be postponed w.,h more freedom than profit. After lons vacation writer feels very much ike :he man who said that he never wanted A holiday so much as the day after he had had one. prefer properly to appcr.ion my work and recreation. and take mem together as far as practicable.
 suppose. Mir. Howells, tha, while abroad you heard something of the hub. bub of criticism occasioned m both Eng land and America by your references n d critique of NIT. Henry James to the ae- ness ot the art of novel-writing a: the present day. as compared with the works of Dickens and Thackeray:" :"
 heard some echoes of the criticisms you refer 10. There IS fashion in nov els. as in everything else. and simply called attention to the fact that in some respects the fashion had changed Tn good time, when opportunity occurs. shall probably express myself on the sub Ject little more fully and explicitly.
 "ls not Thackeray favori,e with you:''
 Certainly. It is absurd to suppose that should attempt to decry him. Why. frst met novel of his when was fo years old his Newcomes was then be- ing published in Harper's, l think. read it eagerly : il opened new world to me, and have read all that he has wr,.- ten many times over, with great deight and the highest sense of his mastery.
 "What chiefly criticised in him was his confidential attitude. his coming down to the footligh,s 10 explain. sis characters. 10 sympathize with poor So- and-So and 10 pat brave So-and-So or the back. II seems 10 me that i, is rot the province of the novelis, to speak for his characters m that way. The novels, should keep himself ou, of view, as he dramatist does. The other sort of thing IS what we expect Tn an essay. and there II IS delightful but a novel should nor te an essay. For the lates, development of fictlon am inclined to think we should have 10 go to the Russian novelist. Tur- genefi. or to Zola, or the great Norwegian. BJornson, who IS poet and finer ar,is; than either in some respects. The news papers have much to say about what they term the ideal novel; That phrase is in terms. You should bear in mind the distinction between the ro.- el and the romance. The latter treats of types, and is essentially idealistic the former treats of characters, and is essen tially realistic. Thackeray and some other of our writers tend to the real:s,:c. and kola has merely applied the pr;nc.p.e much more thoroughly. He has carried II to an extent which would certainly not be permissible in an English writer. be- cause of the different tone of the public ct our day In hls extreme hdel.,, to his theory he makes his books impossible to the largest class of English-speaking readers, but such a book as .LsAsson.