The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-08-16
WE WANT A NOVELIST.
Denver Opinion.l

Denver Opinion.l
 America, and indeed England for that matter, wants a novelist. But America needs one worse than any nation. In all its history it has had only one man who could write novel This was Nathaniel Hawthorne. The others have merely dreamed of the art.
 It Is not necessary to run back over the can 6ction b prove this point Fenimore Cooper wrote novels that had sale-it is certain fhat his name would be men, tioned-but he 1eser vrote novels that had rsality and peEmanency. Eugene Sue ouce sid thaf Cooper vas a great novelist, but Sue lied e mnch about the Jesuis that 1t is fair to snppose that he also lied about Cooper. Tke American chromo of Waltex Scott was : steady dribhle of local hisecry and bod imaeina- ton. His frontieEsmen were dTeams and his Indians were nightmarea He mew something about the sea, but his lnovl- edge never reached to the human nature of either the deck or the cabin. He was an experiment who was simply experi- menting. He Autographed men instead of bas-reliefing them. When he meant to thunder he was discordant when he was calm he was stupid when he was dignified he was tiresome when he was heroic, people went to sleep. His chap ters might have been labeled the first, second, third, etc, lessons. His volumes contain vast possibilities of slumber. Or, if you get into one of them too far, vast possibilities of sleeplessness. In this day one wonders how he ever got into print.
 But 1t is idle to talk about him in the presence of the new school. He is scarcely read now, and there are SO many second and ,hird-clsss English novelists who are entirely his superiors that he only holds his position by reason of a certain sort of historical association. His smooth. platitudinous impossibilities in nature and outrages in art have been en- tirely forgotten. He held a certain kind of distinction at one time, but 1t was due cellence.
 Howells and James are our new n0vel- ists. or the two James is the superior not as novelist in method, but as one in manner. Both men claim to study char acter and life. Neither one knows what either is.
 In "Roderick Hudson" James came near photographing a type. His story was an incomplete one-as all his stories are-but it was strong and had much ef- fective work. It was written when he was younger and had more force. There was less ornate verbosity and more graceful vigor about him then. He had clearer idea of what he intended to reach. In his shorter substantially the Passion ate Pilgrim "-he showed an insight of peculiar kind which promised great things for his future But, somehow, he managed to throw himself away. He got into wrong groove. He conceived the idea that it was his duty to picture inter- national types. and he tried to do so. He has been weak ever since the attempt be- gan. He has been feeble ever since he joined the Howells idiocy and conceived the idea that he could command two English-speaking nations and combine both in hash of literary study. There is one thing that James excels ia to an extraordinary degree. This is his Eng fish. It is perfect. His descriptions or his dialogues are treat to any one who loves the best of the language. is a pity that he should have decided to waste his really great talent. He had the mak- ing of remarkable novelist.
 Howells is . stench. Born in Ohio, he is small imitation of small pretences He is the Miami putting on the airs of the Rhine. His claims are absolutely beyond . gasp of astonishment. The man thinks he is greater than Thack- cray, and has virtually said SC. He is interpretive. That is, he refines noth- ings with the idea that a crucible filled with them may turn out a someshine. He piddlss and analyzes. He slobbers over a trible and makes his discoyer;es of motive on the theory that his reader is a fool. There is no one exactly like him in American literature, or any other literature for that matter, and Heaven is to be thanked for it. He be- longs to the class ot men who are not an inspiration but fashion. He is an elab. crate trifier. As novelist be is supremely inferior to Wilkie Collins or James Pawn, and both of these men are rated as second-class novelists in England. The judgment is true as to Payn, but it is in- 6nitely wrong as to Collins. His sArma- dale !" is the most peElee1 novul b con- structioa and an the eth9 dsanils in the Enslish languags- k b . velEAnown fact that Collins is cuo6ruo1 oufnm- eater. But the worst of his opaum disams are better than HowslPs hnospocaive rot. Even the later novsb whieh Collips has drawn out between opium and Rout are better than the best work which Howells has done. And yet this rr.- sumptuous Ohio man dares to put him self ahead of Thackeray, the greatest novelist in the English language, with the single exception of that splendid old rascal, Henry Fielding.
 America needs a novelist, and needs one badly. Bret Harte gave better prom ise than any of our scribbling people, but he showed in time that he was only equal to shou story. What we want nov is a man who can write a long story and write 1t strongly and we'll. It must be individual. It must leave an impression.