The morning call., 1892-05-22
THE GREAT MOROSB FIERCE.
En- Artist in Literature Right in Our
Vulgar Midst.
Why His Books Will Be Published and Read
in Future Years, Though Nobody
Prints Them Now.
Written for THE MORNING CALL

"He saw an enormous panther dragging
the dead woman toward the window, It's
teeth fixed in her throat. The
clothing was deranged, the long hair In dis
older, the limbs lay anyhow From the
throat, dreadfully lacerated, had issued
pool Of blood, not yet entirely coagulated-
The ribbon with which he had bound the
wrists was broken, the hands were tightly
clenched. Between the teeth was 1rag-
ment of the animals ear"
This Is not a quotation from A ten-cent ter
rible or a nickel -knocker. 1t was
written by great man. Mr.. Morose Fierce.
Yes, Mr.. Fierce wrote that. Therefore IL
is art. You don't see the art, but Mr.
Fierce's admirers will tell You that that is
because you are too nice.
''It is the literature Of the future. they
declare.
And the general reader says, THANK
God"
"Oh. you read the magazines" say
Fierce's friends. 'You can't appreciate
Fierce. Why, the name of Morose, Fierce
will live after all the Howellse', the Jameses
and the hiplings shall have suhK ln!o '7 tlie
nothingness of the go0dy-goGdy. You know
all the goOdy-gO0dies are going 10 sin K into
nothingness, don't you? But Morose
FeIce, sir, | Will bave you TO understand,
is not a goody-gnody? Have you NOTICED
the neat way he has of paralyZng the La
dies Home Journal ana all the magazines
and the publishers generally? maven
noticed that, eh? You've missed q
good thing. Why, Fierce says al
publishers are fools, and all fools
| are publishers. Rich. isn't ii? No, Fierce
| can't get his books published unless ne
| puts up the money or gets somebody 10
| do it for him. He's got whole trunktul
! of manuscripts that no publisher would
| touch with a 1O-fO0t pole. All, Fierce Is a
! great writer. That shows il, you know. III
| publishers will not publish your books that
| is a sure sign OF genius. Have you read ms
! latest, The Blood on the Carpet? 1t tells
| about a man with no toes on his lett foot.
! irving 10 cut the head off a woman and
! cutting off his own by accident. l tell
| you there is art in that story, true art Gu
| can tell that by the feeling in your stomach
! after you have finished reading. Fierce Is a
! great man."
Proof is not wanting of the fact that Mr..
| Fierce has at least two dozen admirers.
| They constitute the MOrOse Fierce Admlra-
| tion Bureau. They cut out all that Mr..
| Fierce writes for the newspapers and paste
| 1t in SCI fapboOks, one Of which you could not
| buy for $1,000, and which you would not
| take If man followed you ten blocks
! with it.
Ibid you read that particularly fine thing
! of Fierce'S, published last Sunday? asks a
the young schoolgirls poetry. The school
girl is about ii years old, you know. She
! had an idea She could write, tut Fierce
ground that girl into smthereens. lie
! showed that she was simply not IN 1t. Ihat
| was bright expression of his, The Pegas-
sifed fructifyer Of such puerile rot were
| blasphemy TO call 1t muck-0ught to be
! spanked Then you ought TO sec the way
! lie went for Sunday school superlntendents,
and how he showed up the supreme litter
nh, 4 s,otp ~ " fsn n
Yorkan lakes, instead OF the New 1OIk
| lakes Oh, il was superb!
Fierce prideS himself on the fact that no
/ magazine ever publishes his stories. Those
| childish magazines"-he wouldn't take a
| thousand dollars line and write for them.
! They are altogether TOO nice. They are too
modern Blast them all, they are right up
to date! Wig, they are full OF sunshine
and reflect actual life, photograph 1t, in
! fact. Their Illustrations arc chiefly based
! on photographs. They show lucid, COM
mOupiace pictures Of things-actual scenes
and actual persons Not single distorted,
ugly, hGe0us sketch cah you find. They
are natural, realistic "a plague on 'em
! all They give you ghnpseS Into the
! real lives of people. As If anybody
| cared for that sort Of rot, or ought tu care
| for it, Why, it is the hideous that people
ought to be looking for-the chastity IN
| natural, the creepily, crawliiy, horribly.
/ disgustingly delightful. What is the good
of sunlight? What is the good Of seeing
/ decent things-Of looking upon anything
! but the narrowing? a plague on the child
! iSh, commonplace sun. Give us good.
steady-.Oing, trustworthy eclipse. That IS
| what we want That is what people Will
! appreciate when the time for reading the
! literature Of the future comes around. The
| literature of the future-thaPs what 1t is.
! Don't call It the resurrection Of the liteTa-
ture of Edgar Allan Poe. People never ap-
| pTeciated Poe. He was too delightfully."-
! horrible. But they will appreciate Fierce
in time.
This natural literature will begin to take
| q back seat Just as soon rs people begin 10
appreciate the unnatural school. of which
| Mr. Morose Fierce is an exponent Just
you wait until people begin to grow plants
! down in their cellars, Then you'll see
| something. You'll see beautiful. long,
| white stalks, with the most perfect leaves
| on them-delicate leaves, white-green-What
| people who don't know any better call
! "sickly vegetation" Why there are people
| who would actually take those plants "a
| into the sunlight and let them grow in that
| beastlY natural way. Faugh. As II we
! wanted anything natural. Just walt until
/ the unnatural methods come into vogue,
and then you'll see plants and literature
| that will be worth seeing.
! Then too these childish, natural writers
! let blood stay in the veins OF the people
/ they write about. Isn't that Just too ridc-
/
| with your blood is TO scatter 1t ab0at-let
| people see il. It's a nice thing TO look at,
| blood is. Give rs plenty Of gore. Now
| here is passage with the true art feeling
in it. 1t is from "The Affair at Coulter 5
| Notch:
"When the gun was sponged it was
! loaded; when loaded, aimed and fired. The
colonel observed something new TO his mill
| tary Notwithstanding horrible and
unnatural: the gun was bleeding at the
mouth. In temporary default of water the
| man sponging had dipped his sponge In a
| pool of his comrades blood"
Isn't it great What other man besides
| Fierce could write like that?
Other people might try, of course, but
then they could not get in blood enough
and horror enough. The publishers Will
not have il, of course, which Is proof posi-
tive Of Fieree's greatness
The publisher of the future will say to his
manuscript reader:
Read that stuff Of Mr.. RedblOod Hor-
rors?"
Yes" will come the reply.
"Thnk it viii do?"
"Ah, it is great. tell you Horrors is an
artist. Why. | haven't been able to eat
anything since | began reading it. l tell
you, sir. there's a man who can reach
/ peoples st0machs. That book will be the
| success Of the year"
| -----------------
Golden Gate Park Concert.
This afternoon the Golden Gate PARK
band of 40 pieces will render the following