The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-01
GILBERT PARKER ON MODERN
FICTION.

In a recent interview Mr.. Gilbert
Parker, the novelist, expressed himself
as greatly puzzled by the fact that
WORKOUT England was producing more
powerful and full-blooded fiction than
young and vigorous America. Our
country, Mr.. Parker AYERS, abounds in
the elements of strong romance. A
days experience among us is worth
more than a week of Europe. vet
among the delightful and interest
ing" American writer's who record orr
life there is a distinct absence Of that
virility which should be the dominant
literary note of sturdy and active
nation. In England, on the other hand.
from whose older civilization we might
well expect the delicacy and over-re-
finement which in reality we find in
American literature, we get instead
a fiction strenuous and powerful al
most to excess ~
Mr.. Parker does not undertake to
solve the problem Of the apparent in
congruity between our life and our
literature, but suggests as factors in
the matter the haste of the younger
writers to acquire the results which
only persistence and slow toll can
produce, and the demand of the Amer
lean magazines for very limited class
of work.
The first of these considerations is
ivrnl e.
ment of the younger American writer's
are precisely the qualities which NAV
be achieved by hard and patient toll
on the part Of a writer. The second
is only sufficient to cover the domain
of magazine literature and would not
account for lack of force in the field
Of the novel.
While it is not xA1cuIt to rerute tho
reasons which Mr.. Parker puts forth
1t is impossible not to admit that there
is some justice in his central conten-
ton, and it is not easy to provide any
satisfactory explanation of the facts.
Perhaps one factor in the result is the
certainty that there are fewer young
men who are writing fiction in Amer
lea than in England. AS has often been
pointed out, the reward of intellect
in the practical pursuits of life in
America is so great that the ranks of
men of letters are naturally thinned
by the detection of some of our best
brains to more remunerative profess
number of women in the field of it,
erature, and naturally affects the mas
culinity Of the entire literary prod
uct, tipping the scale to the side Of
elegance rather than to that of force
Comparing the women who write in
America with the same class in Eng
land, 1t is impossible not to feel that
in this comparison at least the bal
anee of strength and sanity are
on our side. Heaven forbid that
women writers of America should
ever seek to produce the effect
Of vigor by the hysterical methods In
vogue among British "authoresses."
But there are other reasons for our
AoiioAO " pIOauCG DUCKS OrOaQ. dar-
ing and distinct, expressing to the full
the large and liberal life Of America. -
Among them may be cited the ten
dency to specialization In literature
as in other pursuits. To be concrete.
there are the books Of Mr. Hamlin
Garland, which fulfill the require
ments in certain directions, but which
can never command a large audience
until Mr.. Garland learns either how
to depict nice people or abandons the
attempt to depict them in favor of the
more primitive types which he draws
strongly and well. To run the whole
gamut of American life. as an Amerf-
can novelist should be able to do, de-
mands an amount of knowledge about
the way different people live which is