The daily critic., 1890-11-03

What causes the writer 60 rbaooe ,hus
or to give up and quiU TsU tbe force
/ Of association on one hand or the despair
/ consequent upon inaM.iv t9 hear tbe
procrustean operations of tho rdit9ri3l
tyranny on the other handt
as
a shrewd and successful .,lrv. writer
once told me that his forte was knovgl
/ edge of the editors. Said he When
( I set ont 10 write for the Y. magazine
90 for Toms the editor 81 hobby lie
. likes sillabub. and although 7 detest the
/ stuff, and know that the readers of the
! ~ magazine abhor g. ! make Ct for
Tom, and he pays me well for H. Tom
Is a good fellow. Well, there is Dick
Of the Y monthly; he takes to yawp,
| the Dern yOre ole soul sort. and Of
course ] fix 10 up for him. Then comes
| Harry, who runs the Il magazine. lie
goes in for stories about New England
old maids who live In farm houses and
spin and knit and SIGH over split milk
| It's easy 70 please him. ] just write so
many pages half humor, half pa,hos,
and end up in the lonely liule burying
ground at the old Puritan church.
That fetches him every time. on, It's
as easy rs falling of 2 log when once
you get the run Of thingsl'
but, said ], isn't this mere hack
work2'
what do care" said he; I'm in
for making my wares 90.
Now II seems more than possible that
my friend spoke for many, and that
after all the editor may be the person
imposed upon. 1t may be that our
writer's have a contagion among them
inimical 10 forceful dramatic produc.
ton, and the poor editors have to take
the best that Is offered A little further
| inquiry might discover that these prom.
isiug young short story writer's, now
and again found by the lynx eyed edi.
/ tors, fall into commonplace lines in imi-
/ tation Of the company that they are
| forced 10 keep. At all events, my sym.
/ pathies are with the man on the tripod;
/ for, take bim as you will, he has to
stand deal Of racket in the course
Of literary affairs.
-
AT this point the question suggests It.
self in a new form. Possibly both edi
| tors and writers in America have lost
| sight Of the true short story. Certainly
a mere character sketch Is not to be
properly called a short story, at least not
in the sense contemplated In my discus
sion. The best productions Of the
| French short story writers are condensed
dramas; now a tragedy, then a comedy,
anon farce but In every case the sub.
stance and the essentials Of outright
drama are present The French masters
Of to- day hold themselves back much
nearer TO the Elizabethan freedom than
our writer's ever get.
What Is the American short story2
We must promptly admit that It's
average Of literary finish Ia high, that
its humor Is effective If we stop short
/ Of saying that its composition Is good
/ the stumbling block In our way Is the
| apparent lack Of imaginative vlgor. and
| yet we feel that imaginative vigor Is
near at hand, but repressed. Have we
| yet learned that a local study, no matter
how picturesque, Is not a short story2
II may be good as a bucollc bit OF color
or as a glimpse Of out Of the way life
but II the invention, the dramatic
organism, the story, In short, Is not
| there, there Is no vital fiction. Style
| car not do everything. Rudyard Kipllng
has shown by practical demonstration
how fine story Is still a fine story
though dressed In rags. Robert Louis
Stevenson continues TO make Il plain
that short prose drama loses none OF
It's vital force by being set mp in gold
type, II Is substance that suslains; the
story must have a bOdy-a living, active,
symmetrical body. This Is not all; Il
must have the independence, the indi.
viduality, the novelty, the surprise.
power Of original dramatic art, which Is
the soul Of creation, especially when
the fiction must be generated with the
striCtest economy Of myterlals. The
American short story wants this inner
force, the exceptions barely prove the
rule but ! am sure that, with all
restrictions Save moral Ones) cast Oft
our younger writer's would show the
world how the very best dramatic short
story Is written. We know how,
think ! hear them say, but we are
restrained