The times., 1897-05-23

Stephen Crane has written a new book
Perhaps il would he more exact TO say that
stephen Crane has published new book,
for there is no telling how many new books
he has written that are not published
Though those who do not admire the
coiorful Crane will say his had writing mas
made him famous, there are others OF us
who believe that his fame rests on quai-
tics original and admirable, ana SO Sc
curely and dconspicuously that any new booh
of his making possesses interest Iheh
there are few who will sal thatit is an
event. Perhaps it depends more upon the
reader into whose wayit comes, than upon
inherent merits
The new book is called 1.-The Third
Violet 1t is d small book, duodeclmo,
if you know what that is; the paper ~
heavy, and the type is large, so 1t stands
withal as a short story; but not i'll the
number Of chapters. There are thirty
three of them Most of them emulate the
trenchant hrevity of Cranes sentences.
Others a few, are even four pages long
This choppy, terse, vigorous, Crailsi
style is about all there Is left reminiscent
of Maggie and The Red Badge" saw
ing color. OF course, there is blaze of
colors on every page. If, perforce, Crane
should 90 color-blind, though all his other
faculties remained, he would be sadly
crippled Crane. And it would be a mis-
fortune. for he handles these dashes OF
color well.
But color and terse sentences are the
only survival OF his former self. war
there is not; poverty there is none, or
vigor, or high and mighty Things, or
sinister and awful things, in Tine Ihird
yialet.'' The most aggressive emonoh
is n sad repressed self-consunfing jealousy
At last he has gone into love Thc story
sounds like Richard Harding Davis eyed
in Craue's colors. The unsympathetic. anu
Crane faction will find less 20 cavil at
than in others Of his productions For one
thing, he is prosaically grammatical but
tie pro- Crane faction will find less to
enthuse them. tits the great middle class,
between the two bitter and fnlsoine par
ties, that will find rational appreciation
for THE Third Violet"
II is a pretty story of the love OF AN
artist for an heiress. His model, a sort oi
TriIby o'Ferren, watches the trend oi
affairs with concern, jealousy, heartburn
But the fates favor the lover; no tellibs
what became of her. The trick of sug-
sestion is used freely in the developmeh'
Of every point, and one sometimes wishes
for directncss in the dicton, but IL Is
ALWAYS good Then the book is largely
conversational. The author gives httle
play TO a former inclination to make
word pictures. Though the story may
add nothing to the reputation Of the .,i4-
thor of so fine a study as The Red
Badge Of Courage" it will give him audi
ence in a new direction, and with class
of wider circumference. He has almost
thoroughly relinquished his former self.
He stands between the parallel lines OF
his own drawing; to which does he mean
to conserve? New York: ID. Appleton X
Co. Washington: Woodward x Lothrop
II is strikinEly appropriate that IN the
Great Commander series, which Appleton
has for sometime I've N publishing, the life OF
Gen Grant should have appeared this
month The attention OF the nation has
been directed TO this leader the past few
weeks as it has not been before since he
died and was buried twelve years Ego.
The new volumeis significant AS n souvenir
of the dedication OF the mausoleum erected
above and to the memory Of the greatcom-