The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-07-18
CONDITIONS OF LITERARY LIFE
rAtlantic.I

rAtlantic.I
 The conditions of the literary life in America are less determined than they are in England. The only organization within which authorship may be said to ind substantial shelter is journalism, and this profession is so exacting and so in- imical to most forms of literature, that those who have most serious thoughts of the literary life are rather desirous of es- caping from journalism than of using it as a vantage-ground. It might seem at first blush as if the universities and colleges would offer a desirable fastness from which to send cut ventures in literature but the academic life is a somewhat ster. ile one; 1t is with us so identified with the pedagogic that the energies of the professor, if they move the production of books, are most likely to be occupied with the tools of the profession. Text. books in abundance issue every year from college faculties, but very few contribu- tions 10 humane literature The aca. demic life again is so specialized that even the professor of English literature rarely produces work upon which his successor or associate may comment. His attitude toward the subject of his teaching is too critical to allow him much freedom of mind, and he is besides SO conscious of hls position that he is undermined in his resolution, and rendered abnormally sen. sitive to the criticism of others as we'll as of himself. The professors in other de- partments are still further removed from the possibility of being Hkerateuys by the whole course of their training and the limitations of their profession.
 The constitution of the English univer- sites, on the other hand, directly encour- ages and sustains the literary life. This IS not to say that literature in its freest e pression is not there, as here, outside the walls of the college, but that a man of literary taste and ambition may delib- erately possess himself of academic sit- nations which will make it possible for him 10 lead literary life, free fro n fret and carking care and also that the prizes tor sch holarship offered by the universities distinctly suggest to the student literary occupation. man, in other words, with fortune enough to secure him university education, may hope to win a Fellowship which will demand only slight academic duties, leaving him free to devote himself to literature; and student devoted to learning who falls into such place will, by the very force of his own nature, be urged into literary production. Thus the university, by provision which enlarges the scope of university life, is more than a training-school for i'm mature minds it is society of scholars, and as such, di- rectly encourages and sustains the litera- " life.
 The university, however, is not the only English organiz ation which fosters litera- ture and makes vantage ground for the men ofletters Asit is demonstrably more eff1cient in this respect than its American congener, so the civil service of England has offered more convenient shelter for the HEer0teHr than the same service in America. Our government, indeed, has not been slow to recognize authors, but it has been chiefly in the way of rewards in the diplomatic service for those who have already won certain distinction. Now and then, notably in the case of the New York custom house, government offices nave served as means of support to hard working literary men, but the general in- security which has hitherto attached to this employment, and the peril to ones self respect in seeking appointments, have hindered such men from counting upon this resource. One of the probable re. suits of a service organized upon the merit system, is the attraction to it ot men ca- pablo of clerkly labor, but chiefly ambi- tious of literary fame. The freedom from concern which enables one to lay aside his business mind, like an office coat, when the clock strikes three, and don the literary habit, is especially necessary to the calm and cheerful pursuit of litera- ture. Such a state of things exists in London to-day, and may be confidently predicted of Washington. New York and other cities, in the near future.