Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-06-10
ROBERT BARR ON LITERATURE.
A Brief interview With the Editor of The
 IdIer.
Tspeciai Coi'Fespymdenee.l ]

A Brief Interview With the Editor of The IdIer. [Speciai CoFFespsndienee.l LONDON, May 27.-" Comeini'' exelaim- cd n deep, hearty voice, and found my self in the don of Tho Idler Before me, with hand outstrctchcd stood its editor, Robert Barr. gave him n keen, rapid size up, for my visit tu hiut this time was for the purpose of writing him up. He Is a powerful looking man, with a thick beard and plentiful hair. His eyes are very largo and gray. In the middle of his forehead is the heavy, vertical limo which denotes power of concentration and reso- lution You fCS'l that Inc is strong, un- compromising fiyhtur. His "Revaagc' stories illUstrrItc tlia trait, and his bearing suggests nuthin1 at all of that posing as a littryatVur which is affected by puny. half clever writers. He stands hcfare you an unaffected, straight out, square man.
 "k"nncdy, sit down, take a pipe and try to behave yourself, he said as he went back to his desk
 But you've got to lir,,,N to me this tiIHr with al your nrs. Why. I've come to int,T,irw y"n ns to your opinion about lurrajur,l
 "Don't talk shor, he said.
 "Can't Ir helped this time" l r,pll,yl. "Thr literary lights at homo in Amcri- ca arr lN';,.y iu;Vr> i,'wrL h- tho lcss,,r lit erary Ii ,'I,S, and the public mrrkly stands tho inillcti n of tho resulting pearls of wis dom. Now. as we nrn both guilty of the crime of writing, why shouldn't let the public in for few moro pcarls-rough pCarl>?'
 "PlunEc ahcad, then"
 "Givc mo a light first, though" said l. This pipe iS out.
 He handed me a match. and as struck it l asked him the following question:
 Do you think that literature has as great an effect upon the civilization of our time as some literary men think it haS?"
 "Nuw yNu arc asking question in drCd, he answered. II think, however, that litrraturr has not. Literary men. in common with other mon, quite ofurn lose themselves in their work and forget the significance of the forces and conditions that surround them. Ii is then that their cgotisn comes into play and causes them to believe that they arc bigger and strongcr than they really are. Take, for example, China. The literary class has ruled that country for centuries and in the end has played havoc with things. Kennedy, I be- licvc that thcrc iS such thing as a liter ate fool. However, the man that thinks as well aS writes won't hr apt to make tho mistake of Ertting out of touch with his enVirunmCnt.
 "llow about literature as a carrCrf''
 "A fine carrCr-that iS, if n man has any faculty for it at all '
 What do you think of tho work-wcn, say of Daudct or Guy dr Maupassantg''
 "Ah. l admire the work of Dc Maupas- sant very much. IL was pity he died so young. H" was indeed Il mastcr of tho art ot producing effect. Somo people would quarrrl with him as to tho subjects he chose for trVwtmrnt, but then an artist must hc left to his own judgment in this respect if he k to do his best work |"
 "lluw about KiplinEY"
 "kipling Is a great man, and what Is very often much more tu the l!uint he Is a good fellow. am proud to have him as my persona friend"
 "iavC you given the drcadcnt school that has sprung mp lately any attcntion!"
 II have, and I hardly know what to think of it. Its keynote k blend of hope lCSsnCss and rVCklrSSnrsS. If it Is as tho drcadrntS claim, n reflection of the whole life If our civilization. We are indeed in a bad way and near to falling aSundrr But 1 don't think ii Is. 1 am sure that these men only k,rp their eyes fixed on the part that k di>,IS,d.
 "Ynu have written a great ,lral yo;lr- Srlf
 II ha.r and believe il {" hr the best imaginable discipline for the mind. The real Wag, that a literary worker earns is his own iArntal development" "
 Do y"u like StrNrn~un'S 'S work"
 II ,l" ird,,l, I'm ,lad you mentioned him. He k one uf my answers [" the wall of the d'r:niCnt sch""l. He i,nlways thor "us;hly healthy and manly"
 ID" you think that a Ii crary worker should turn his attention away from tho problems of his time and work just for tho works sake. or that hc should make his work suhSrrvicnt to the propagating of great curative idray'
 II dc, and do not. It depends alto grth'r upon the man. For instance, Vic tor Hugo could never havC worked just for the work sake, as you put it. and on the other hand Thcophilo Gautirr could never havc worked with the purpose of propagat- ing belief or an idea
 Herr Barr stopped and looked at mo as though he had enough, and from then on We talked of things unlitcrary. Soon wo went out tn lunch in n little chophouse near the TrmplC-a Chophousc in which Goldsmith, Johnson and other fellows who wrote for bread ate and drank and talked together in tho long ago
 BART KENNEDY