The record-union., 1896-11-19
BICYCLE AND NOVEL.
Feeble Writers Go to the Wall Before the
Wheel.
Ihree Hundred Pages Enough and
They Must Have Plenty
of Action.

Has the bicycle changed the tide Of
novel reading toward outdoor sport?
Yes" says NJ Lemerre fills, the we'll
known publisher, ION general princi-
ples," though his experiences have not
thus far been disastrous since the intro
duction of the wheel into France.
Speaking to a Herald correspond
ent yesterday, NJ. Lemerre said: In
spite of the bicycle, good French au-
thors are and always will be read. Very
few people who have cultivated the
taste for reading take to the bicycle, ex-
cept for causes of hygiene.
But nowadays an author must be
very good one to command attention,
and, given such All author, no one cares
to be ignorant of his latest work. We
have not noticed any decline in the sales
of the novels we publish, but in any
case BICYCLES do not do such harm to
our business as newspapers. When an
intelligent man takes to a bicycle he
does not stick to it for very long-that
is with passionate ardor-and while
thousands are constantly learning to
ride, thousands are trying to forget that
they ever learned. Women read novels
more than men, and they are the bulk
Of novelist's public, though q man will
read what 1t is really a necessity to
know something about But, briefly,
monsieur reads his newspaper and
madame her novel.
Il don't say that authors write for
women, however, only that the latter,
as matter of fact, are the principal
novel readers. Now, in spite of so
Toany women becoming bicyclists, the
sale Of such works as those of Marcel
Provost, Bourget and others has been
enormous all the time that the bicycle
has been advancing in social favor.
Look at these novels here, and you
viii see on the covers Daudet's Petite
Amie,' forty thousand; Ar
mature, thirty-eighth edition of 500
copies; 'Demi-Vierges,' one hundredth
and fortieth edition Of 500 copies, etc.
We have sold very large editions Of
LIE Jardin Secret La Derniere Lettre
dune Femme NJ. Hervieu's 'Amite'
during the bicycle rage
zOLA'S NEXT NOVEL.
M. Fasquelle of Charpentier & Fas-
quelle said:
have not noticed any great diminu-
ton in the sales of novels, but no doubt
there is a difference When one is on
a bicylce one does not read, of course.
and when fatigued from a long bicycle
ride one does not read, and this ought
to make a diminution in the business.
But strong author, like Zola, for
instance (and you know we are his pub
hshers), would not be affected by the
bicycle craze; neither would Daudet
nor Theuriet. When 1 say / have not
noticed any great difference in the sales
l do not mean that some difference is
rot to be noticed. Very likely people
buy novels nowadays with the idea of
at all events reading them at some more
convenient season.
But there are two points about the
modern novel which are characteristic
Of our time These are the manner in
which the bicycle IS entering into our
plays and writings as part of the sphere
OF action 1 am not divulging any for
pidden secret when tell you that Zola's
next novel Will be in connection with
bicycling and bicyclists-you know he
is bicyclist himself, as Is also Leon
Daudet. You cannot get out a new
novel in these days without recogniz-
Ing the claims of the bicyclist
The other point is that, no doubt,
bicycling is responsible for the popl1-
lar taste changing in regard to novels.
What is wanted is a 300 page novel in
these days Of getting over the ground
as quickly as possible. The day for
4oo and oOO-page novels Is going out.
Fancy novel in these days of the
length of Les Miserables'l And to IA
cilitate the reading OF the 300-page
novel the action must be sustained
throughout the work. Bicycling gives
a taste for getting over the ground as
quickly as possible, and the scenery
through which one travels must be in
teresting all along the line"
EVEN MUSIC WON'T SELL.
The sale Of novels has gone down
to a serious extent since the introduc-
ticn of the bicycle" said NJ E. Flam-
marion. Il noticed, too, at the seaside
this last summer that very small guam
titles Of reading matter were taken by
tourists and others going on their hoIi-
days. Every one talks about bicycling,
and few give novels and literature any
fhing like the attention of former years.
But we are not the only sufferers.
- +tte4-7A~ GEAAtI AOiI lie Lfle OLDHT Uay
tnat his business had very seriously
gone down. People don't go in for music
so generally as they used to, and. Of
course, he and his fellow music dealers
don't sell IT. The bicycle has entered
into our everyday life entirely, and au-
thors viii have TO take Il into account
when writing In the future
There is no distinct school of now
elists now. The realistic. romanesoue
and psychological IN literature are on
the wane-they have been all SO thor
oughly written up. That the sale of
novels has gone down very much dur
ing the last four or five years In con-
sequence of the bicycle requires also
another side explanation. There has
cen an over production OF novels, and
now, as a natural consequence, there is
d reaction.
Newspapers are. however, more to
the taste of the public nowadays. Il
noticed that last summer, when on the
Journey from Marseilles to Paris. the
majority of the passengers took from
two to a dozen newspapers to read--not