The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-09-06
Degeneracy In Literature.

IneTe Is u large ciloTus VI asseh'
waiting for just such wholesome senti-
ment as is expressed in letter by
Mrs. Hattie Tying Griswold to a Chi
cago contemporary: whatever we
may think" she writes, "of Dr. Nor
daus Degeneracy' as whole-and
there is little difference of opinion
about its being a morbid and hurtful
book for the general reader-we must
admit much truth in the parts devoted
to recent literature. A generation ago
nearly all new books We're clean and
wholesome. Even longer ago than that
there was comparatively little that the
most fastidious could object to in Eng
lish books. Dickens was model in
this respect, and Thackeray, thorough
ly healthy. though we are told that he
felt the restraint of always writing
with the English young person in his
mind. George Eliot was irreproach-
able, though in Adam Bede she told
story which the 'degenerates' would
have made much of. In her hands 1t
has all the solemn splendor of q sermon
by Taylor, the Shakespeare Of divines.'
Even the minor novelists did not de-
scend to dirt.
But there has been q new Descent
Into He'll and just now, English novel;
lists are rivaling, IL not outdoing, the
French in immortality. Even the hide
Gus memoirs of Barras, probably the
most loathsome book published in this
century. are rivaled by novels which
have a great vogue among a certain
class of men and women with a slight
semblance Of responsibility about
to look for suggestive novel under
the counters. They are published now
by leading houses, and openly praised
In the papers. Even religious periodi-
calls advertise them. Free love docu-
ments. twenty years ago. were in dam
ger of suppression by the police. Now,
the Woman Who Did, with all 1t crud-
ity and dullness. is issued by a reput-
able house. and noticed in some Of the
best papers.
1T is greatly to be hoped that Ameri-
can writer's will remain true to the ira
ditions Of the fathers Not line in the
works Of our great writer's needs to be
blotted outs And the best are as pure
today as in any former period. Any
girl may read Howells, or James. or
Cable. Let those of lesser note heed
the lesson Of the masters, and not fol-
low the lead Of the cripples and clowns
zines can do much to repel this new
irruption Of the barbarians. Let them
ignore. and not parade. this erotic
poison. Let them save for noble works
the space they give to literary criti-
cisms. The great reading world will
be at their back. Only few degener-
ates desire any other action"
Mrs. Griswold's complaint, while Just,
Is not beyond remedy. 1t is very evi.
dent to the attentive observer of liter
nry phenomena that the craye for de.
generate novels has passed its flood
tide. and is now steadily II not rapidly,
receding. The pure and wholesome
stories Of Tan Maclaren today, in a
score of our leading cities. far outsell
the fetid fictions of Zola. George Moore,
Du Maurier and Oscar Wilde. Upon
the stage, pruriency is again at n dis
count. and the erotic flush of the SEX
problem play is giving way to healthy
interest In clean pictures of rational
men, women and manners. In the ag-.
gregate, affairs in the world of letters
are really much better than they were,
and the end Of the reaction in not yet.
------.-- -------
The vigorous denial by Mayor War
wick Of recent assertions that he had
utilized the Philadelphia police force
in the recent factional contest will not
end the charges. for the reason that
they were not founded on fact, but
were based wholly on malice.
Cuba's Frightening Hopes.
1t is reported at Washington that
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