The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-24
THE LITERARY OUTLOOK.
MARK TweAIN's LITERARY EMPLOY
NEWT IN VIENNA.

HamIIn GarIand's Departure for
Literary News.
New York, April 23.-Mark Twains
comDlaisance to the portrait makers is
well known In consequence of 1t a large
number of portraits of Him are in exist
ance have seen myself, should think,
:. many as two dozen. and I never saw
ono mat was not interesting. I was shown
q new one the other day, one that Mark
had lust sent over from Vienna to a
friend. 1t is what might be called a dou-
ble It shows Mark Twain sitting to a
Young scuptress, Miss Ries who is at
work modelling a bust of him, which, as
shown in the picture, is already far enough
,dyanced to be itself a very satisfactory
portrait.
Miss Ries, by the way, is an artist whose
name is likely soon to be better known
than it is as yet. Mark Twain himself
has the highest opinion of her talent and
so have other persons who are acquainted
with her work.
Mark Twain and his family have been
living all winter at Vienna, at the Hotel
Metropole, and will remain there until late
in the spring. Then they will go to Eng
land; but this last is rather unlikely, as
they expect to pass next winter in Vienna
also. Mark Twain, it will interest the
public to know, has lately turned his at
tention to the drama. He has translated
from the German a new play that recent
ly created a good deal of stir at Vienna.
and what is more interesting. he has lust
completed play of his own. When his
own play will be brought out and how,
is as yet uncertain. The manuscript has
been forwarded to London, and is there
under consideration
Of course, this play, IL produced will
not be strictly Mark Twain's first an
pearance on the stage. There is "Pudd'n
Head Wilson," and, better yet, there is
the "Gilded Age" which Mark Twain
wrote in collaboration with Charles Dud-
ley Warner, and wherein John T. Ray
mond found character so admirably fit
ted to his talent that he almost lost his
identity in 1t, and when he died what the
In.IiO
of John II Raymond, but of "Col. Sellers. +"
But in neither of these instances did Mark
Twain think, have direct hand in maxi
ing the play; he simply supplied the ma
terial through his books. His powers as
playwright pure and simple are, there
fore, still to be proved. There is no doubt
of his ability to provide incident; nor Of
his ability to provide. character; but
whether he has mastered the translation
n nd bo
connected, pointed, quick-moving series of
actions that constitutes a practicable play,
IL Will he interesting to see. AT any rate
the old contention that novelists cannot
write plays no longer stands as a deter
rent. Some of the professors of literature
are still discussing it, l believe, in the
periodicals. that affect to be Improving -
but, in view of the fact that much the hest
play shown in New York this winter Is T
NJ. Barrie's Little Minister" the most We
are now justified in saying on this head
Is what one, had he been prudent, would
have confined himself to saying in the
first place-namely, that some novelists
cannot write plays. However, If one never
said but what one was justified In saying
where would literary critism De? And
where, l might also ask, would literature
itself be?
Is soon to go, on lecture tour through
the South. Mr.. Bangs is not entirely new
to the platform, although have no knowl-
edge of his having tried lecturing before.
lie has read on occasions in public, and
very effectively. recall an authors read
Ing for some high charitable and (the au-
thors' reading is nearly always conduct
ed as a devotion to sweet charity where
in perhaps a dozen genuine literary cele-
hrifiac hoH oxaA lzsae al -.
for the Cutting of morbid curiosity and
wherein Mr.. Bangs though not by sew
eral the most famous man in the lot,
proved much the best performer and was
one of only two or three whom ii was not
painful to contemplate. Q'n not say who
on this remarkable occasion did the worst,
though l know my readers are dying to
know, but he came near to being the best
of the lot as a writer.) If Mr.. Bangs
proves as acceptable in his lectures as he
has proved in his book "A House Boat on
the Styx' he can come home on very fair
terms with himself. The book has had a
sale, / was credibly informed the other
day, of over $1,000 copies.
1 am permitted to quote from private
letter of Mr.. S. r. Crockett some pas
sages of general interest regarding the
novel which he is now engaged on. It is
Mr. Crockett writes; 'Tt is a story which
have been thinking of and arranging
in my mind at intervals for the last ten
years. The fall of the great house of
Douglas constituted the one romance of
my boyhood. Their castle of Thrieye
stands on an island in the midst of the
River Dee. Its gray walls are still over
20 feet high, and to this day defy even
the storms of Galloway. ] am not yet
able to tell you on what lines of hero and
heroine l shall run out the story, but the
backbone of the book will be the cumi-
nation of the great family in the person
OF William Douglas, the boy of q who
ned all Scotland south of the Tay in the
hollow of his hand, who coined money at
ms own mint, and rode abroad with a
more than regal train Mr.. Crockett
adds: Il may say that this final tragedy
OF the Douglas is the only Galloway ro-
nance comparable in popularity with that
which / have already told in the pages of
me Raiders There will, however, be
IesS dialect in the book, because the date
Oh the tragedy Is from about 1850 to 1900,
me historic time of Scottish literature.
which contains the. names of Dunbar,
Gavin douglas, Sir David Lindsay"
My readers will not overlook i fancy,