New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-02-14
John OLIVER HOBBIES.
HER SUCCESSES IN ENGLAND AND NOTES
ON HER GIFTS AS A WRITER.


author himself respects 1t. The name at the
head OF this letter is as everybody knows. .
pseudonym and the writer who adopts 1t is. az
almost everybody knows. Mrs. Craige, young
American lady 1t Is she who has revealed
her identity with the author Of that brief series
of brief books which begins with Some Emo
tions and a Moral" and ends, for the present,
with "a Bundle of Life" Whether she was the
first TO reveal It, or whether 1t was first dis
closed by one Of those penetrating agents q
nub,city to whom no secret Is respectable, do
not know 1t is enough for present purposes
that Mrs Craigie lately wrote and published
n letter in her own name in reply to a critical
reviewer She even gave her address in Ian.
caster Gate where she Is understood TO be living
with her father The pseudonym was, perhaps.
adopted in order to comply with her publishers
wishes. and to make her bow to the English
nublic in the Pseudonym Library. 1t is permissi-
bio NJ any rate to refer to her indifferently a.
John Oliver Hobbies, and as Mrs. Craigie. The
pseudonym has already d celebrity OK It's own.
and II rests with the possessor OF IT 10 say
wbether her own name shall presently becdQD
better known still.
Mr. Fisher Irwin, who Is not In all respects -
some other publishers are, has lately coliectso
into a column Of advertisement eight CRITICISMS
on John oliver Hobbes's "A Bundle OF Lie"
Four OF these are favorable and four are hostile.
This Is bewildering to the reader who likes 70
have his mind made up for him. but has io
uses One use is to reveal an attitude Of mind
not nfreauent in the English critic and IN the
English public. / use the word Critic In the
conventional sense. 1t is an attitude OF dislike
to what is sometimes called form. II 1t be not
dislike It is indifference. With such people, you
cannot do a worse service to writer or BOOK
than TO praise 1t for style. Style implies pre-
csion of speech symmetry, balance, the power
Of knowing what you want to say and just now
to saw It. There is an idea in the English nina.
perhaps rather dmly present, but nevertheless
operative that these qualities are French ana
not English, and so they call forth repression
of the natural, inveterate antipathy of race, ana
of that hatred Of what Is foreign because IL -
foreign which Is 50 characteristic or the Eng
lish. They cling to their own methods Ihey
resent an epgram an iniquty ana secretly
regard a paradox as an offence against ths
moral law.
This singularity and insularity Of mind &C
count well enough for some or the cehsures upo"
John Oliver Hobbies. and upon her new book.
For this writer, whatever else she mas or mas
not. has style Cynical she may be- but that -
q fault of immaturity and she Is very young.
Pessimistic say some OF the commentators, put
pessmstic often means no more than uhex-
pected, and the power OF taking unexpected
views does certainly belong to her Nor Is her
paradox even when pessimistic. OF the mecham-
cal kind in which Mr.. Oscar Wilde is expert
lust as a workman is often expert in turning OUT
eccentric forms from a lathe. AT present she 10
content or often content, with seeing one SIDE
Of a character, or with presenting only one size
to the spectator. But 1t sparkles like one facet
of q diamond 1t would be rash to assume that
tbarS sid
her reader those she wishes him TO notice. The
saIection NAV be voluntary or instructive: an act
NJ will or an intuition. In either case the choice
denotes a sense Of restraint and a feeling for
what Is artistic in literature we'll as Tor
what Is essential in character The writer VINO
has that has the foundation OF much broader
and loftier structure than John Oliver Hoboes
has vet reared. With all their merits, her stories
show thus far but slight structural ability ana
still less OF architectural
In spite OF the critics or. no DOUBT par'ly W.
cause of them, John Oliver HOBBIES mas
public in England. and an increasing puohc'
Down to last week. $1,000 copies OF her Tour n''
flo hooks had been sold; all published BY MI
Fisher Irwin in the Pseudonyn Library.
Bundle OF Life" issued in December 1898 is al
rsadv in its fifteenth thousand. The others. OF
which the Oldest bears date September "a. 1881.
range from H. 900 10 u 600 \ sale OF $4,000 IN less
than two months is remarkable. Mr.. Irwin, at
least so far as his Pseudonym Library Is con-
cerned believes in cheapness. These long ana
narrow volumes cost eighteen pence in paper
covers; two shilings bound in cloth. Every sue
cess OF that kind points to the blessed day wheh
people will buy books instead of borrowing them
from the circulating Libraries. as they do now
The elghteenpenny system would not answer for
all classes OF books. 1t answers for some Tns
ambition Of the average English novelist Is TO
write a three-voume novel at a guinea and
half 1t is a certificate OF literary responsibility;
an assurance of salvation, like being taken into
church. the phrase went, in New-England
town. in other days, and | suppose al this day.
There Is little in her present work 10 indicate
that Mrs Craigie is likely to attain TO this par
tcular kind Of success, or cares 10 attain II, She
prefers lesser canvas; or perhaps no canvas at
all The ivory OF the miniature painter is moro
suited to her delicate. incsive manner In truth,
she has even more OF the OF the etcher than Of
the miniature painter. One of her critics COM
plains that she does not give herself time enough.
and suggests that this "indubitably clever
writer'-a phrase which a clever writer would
not have used-should ''forego the luxury of writ
ing for a twelvemonth" One would think that
each OF these short studies must be q complete
novel OF what is called orthodox length In three
volumes. All four OF them would not fill three
volumes OF the usual size. 1t may be admitted
that much intellectual effort goes TO the writ
ing of each as would suffice for several OF the
orthodox bigness. But II is effort OF a peculiar
kind; not effort toward volumnousness or guam
tity.
The American is commonly reproached with
too deep respect for big things" Here. at any
rate. is one American whose standard OF value
Is very different from that Her effort is toward
condensation. conciseness. the briefest form OF
expression. These chseed and polished sem
fences do not come by nature. They works
of art Macauay used to allege with just PRIDE