New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-06-29
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
pIAI.ECT TALES.

o,.trc-r TALES by SHERWOOD BONNER Illustrated
M is7. Harper Brothers
There eccs certain gift 10 the it writing OF da-
lao, tales and few there be who possess H. Dialects
son.s, al something more than quaint. obsolete and
,,,,.ual forms Of speech. The very survival oil
dialect prcsnpposcs conservative habit OF SOCIAL
.,i.,.nce which IL favorable TO the production oil
,.c,l,sr local way Of looking at things, and an
sau.liv peculiar local wit and hnmor. To cateh
and prcscrvo these latter oharaoterstics /" dlhcuit
ave Cor the observer who has tho subtle faculty OF
intuition and who can create harmonious char
actors A. the masters of fiction have done; char
setcrs which. when ilns created, do and say things
which are sometimes quite as surprising to inc
author M Il they hid been LIVING people. Inc
TRANSLATION Of ordinary educated thought into dia
leet must NECESSARILY iail 10 produce tho desired
.a,c, There has been a good deal Of that kind Of
spurlous dialect writing attempted Of hte, how
ever. and some authors have thought that All that
WAS necessafy 10 convert dulness into wit was TO
print Il Ia bad English.
Tbe dialect tales Of sherwood Bonner occupy
hall way position They are no, rs genuine a. those
Of MIR Harris Tor example but they are much bet
,er than many other attempts In the same held. In
same Of them one meets what can only ne calloo
translations 81 ordinary talk Occasionally words
arc encountered which are clearly ont OF place. as
a., instance when an ignorant Western woman is
IA
of somethng. Such a word as paucity, Of course
has no business In tho vocabulary OF prairie cabin
The author morcovef had not the faculty ot giving
lite to her characters. or individuality. save IN ex-
continual instances The Southern negro dialect Il
che hest la the book but even that Is often strained
Df course too dialect tale % be- interesting must
a. arst good story and then q dialect story. Mere
.peeimens ~ dialect will not atone Tor poverty OF
dramatic imagination. For the most part the action
An these storiea h II the highest They are indeed
little moro than sketches aud had They been writ
ION without the dialect many oi them would have
had hut a poor excuse for existence. The first one
eThe Gentlemen Of sarssr" isdccidodly the poorest
An the collection one OF the best IL The Bean
panee M tho Apple settlement" OF tho rest one or
two are little more than hurlosques while m nearly
all there IL notable failure 60 reproduce the no
matte turns of Thought which appear 10 naturally
aud ahundantly ln SIT. liarrs's negro stories and
of which some striking Illustrations are 20 Ice found
IN the stories of the Tennessee Mountains recently
published In boob form
10 write dialect we'll the lie Of those who speak
n shouid have hoen lived. and their mental habits
carefully aud npprecintiycly studied. II is not,
therefore. kind OF work upon which inexperienced
writers should experiment. When 10 is well done u
involves the fail exercise II powers which may be
..peeted a. produce really important hction When
N h not we'll dome 10 results in more than com
'sbc.,No,I Honnrr hal come. hut not enough NJ
nos. for the work Her stories passed in magazine
FORM. but N may be- doubted whether their per
petuaion WIS altogether iudcious. j tee illustra
lions point and Increase the hulnor IA some m
stances though when the fuu itself r. rather duhi.
,us the general effect is not particularly improved
~ the artsis efforts As specimens 9i dalect
tales In short these will not sustain serious crit
sism though as lpht aud clever outline sketches
they are not undcsorying Of praise