The morning call., 1893-03-20
THE DRIFT OF LITERARY TASTE.


Howells, Marion Crawford. Rider Hsggard,
Thomas Hardy. Bret Hsrte and others Of
equal lame it would be rash to say that the
Anglc-SaXon novel is on the decline; and,
in fact, publishers assure inauirers that
they print and sell more works of fiction
than all other works together. And yet he
who undertakes to follow the drift of liter
airy taste is driven to the conclusion that
the novel of the day is less potential and
occupies smaller share of the attention of
cultivated minds than the novels of Thack-
cray, Dickens, Reade and Eliot did in their
day. The bookstores are gorged with
paper-covered novels, which sell from
twenty-five cents to halt a dollar. They
appear to be in pretty fair demand. They
are written by people OF whom one seems to
have heard. But hardly one Of them pro-
duceS an impression which is retained In
the memory; and certainly none seem TO
have prospect of immortal life. Among
cOntemporaneOus masters Of fiction several
have written one, or perhaps two. good
books. General Lew Wallace. whose Ben
Hur" made an epoch, as the French say,
and who announces a new novel, The
Prince Of India" could never equal his
masterpiece. Clark Russell has written
many pleasant books. but they are all re-
fieXes OF the Wreck of the Grosvenor."
Marion CTawfoTd's pictures of Rome are
charming; hut it is one scene constantly
rereated. Thomas Hardy's last work is
fully up TO the mark of "a Pair of Blue
Eyes" Even with him, however, there is
a sameDess in the ever-present pictures of
English country life. Mr.. Howells has
not lately been able to reach the level of
the Lady Of the Aroostook." When these
who VIII read their books? What pub
Usher Will bring cut complete editions, like
the editions Of Scott and Bulwer, and
Thacseray and Dickens?
But if the standard of literary fiction ap-
pears to lie on tie decline the quality and
the number OF more substantial works Of
letters is obviously on the increase. and an
Improvement in their popularity is sure to
follow. There is a marked public demand
for more thorough and minute historical
and geographical research. The number of
memoirs written by intelligent observers Of
the times in which they lived is increasing,
and based on them histories are being writ
ten which are more minute and more &C
curate than any which our fathers read.
The articles on the War OF the Rebellion
published IN the Century are. as the law
yers say, the best possible evidence on the
subject Some say writer endowed with
the gilt Of digestion and condensation will
compile from them a history SIS exhaustive
as Prescotts philip the second" or Park
mans "Jesuits in North America"-a work
so complete that there will be nothing left
to say on the subject. Memoirs-of which
the "Engisbman in Paris" is the latest ex-
ample-are appearing from day to day on
the Third Empire; by and by there will be
far more light thrown on that period than
there is on any former epoch OF French
history. 1t is the development of magazine
literature which has made this new de-
partuTe possible. The leading magazines
have been able to offer the great actors in
public affairs a sum which tempted them to
tell what they knew.
simultaneously the same periodicals have
impaired a pTOdigiOus in etus 10 the litera-
ture of travel. In the old days no one could
travel but men of fortune. who were not by
any means in every case the brightest men
Of the day, or those who were best fitted TO
describe what they saw. Now the great
magazines pick out man of literary ability,
like the late Mr.. Child. and send him to for
egn parts at their expense, with an artist
to illustrate what he writes. The traveller
supplies the magazine with excellent arti-
cles of description. and these are afterward
collected and published in a book. Mr..
Lafcadio Hearn has done much work of this
kind, greatly TO the advantage Of H0rper'S
Magazine, and to the credit OF his own fame.
Nh Child was on his way to Persia when he
died; he wOuld have made us as familiar
with the country of Xerxes as Hearn has
made US with Martinique. Mr.. Lathrop is
another traveller who has photographed
Spain so clearly and so artistically that his
articles made the reader feel he had sailed
down the Guadalquivlr, ana slept under tho
shade of the Alhambra.
1t is possible that these serious works may
be destined in some degree TO take the place
of fiction in public taste. A glance at the
announcements of the leading publishing
houses shows that serious works of letters
ontnumber works of fiction. There is an
immense demand for books of gossip and
personal adventure. The 'Englishman in
Paris" has only been out few months,
but three editions are In the market. Men
and women want, as always, stories OF
human passion, human suffering, human
heroism, and human sympathy; they will
be none the less welcome because they are
exhibited in the lives of real characters, in
stead of creatures of tho iDnaUination