The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-06
As RowELLS SEES FICTION.
-gr yovELIsT TALKS ON TEE TEND
EyCIEs OF THE DAT.

vw0mfnFn EINCe vi btottoh NattNNubs
surely w. D. Howells Is the mildest hammered
-,n that ever made himself famous by his
vr,ting, sincere, kindly, sympathetic, no 10
vil,ing TO talk about anything except himself,
,rd literary lion as he is, no will 'roar you
,cntIy ms any sucking dove" Even when, hav.
Inc settled down for an afternoons work,
,h,ch the storm outside has guaranteed will
4. uninterrupted, he lie disturbed by an inquisi-
tve reporter, Mr.. Howolls doesn't lose hia
..renity, He doesn't look surprised. Ono
,,ioh, think that snowstorms Invariably blew
..norters into the Howells's parlors. He
ooneS into the room smiling, and the warmth
~ bis smile and his voice bullles the storm out
lido, and makes It n thing of no Importance.
There are few men whose voices arc bids for
Hing. but MIR. Howells is ono Of the few, and
N ono should but hear him repeat the Sanskrit
,lphabet, ono would feel sure of his interest in
humanity. Perhaps It is that creed OF his
that all things in tho world are equally inter-
eatine TO any one who secs clearly-that makes
MIN SO eouablo when the world breaks in upon
Ma quiet afternoon. IL may DO that, after all,
me reporter is the one interviewed.
"I had an interview once that was really accu-
rata tho novelist says, meditatively. ut
vas In TIE Sun. Tho things I said were in
Il and some Of my language, too. Usually I
eone out 90 ornate In those interviews that I
Aon.t recognize myself" His eyes twinkle so
oncouraeingly that IL there's . note of warning
IN the remark, the reporter decides IL wasn't
Intentional.
"what shall we talk about Fotioni Oh,
veil. there has been only one clearly defined
tsndency in fiction in tho last few years, and
that 10 toward realism or naturalism. I like
that word better. 1t is easy enough to sec how
the thing has come. There has been q natural
progross from classicism to romanticism, from
romanticism to naturalism. Clsssicism made
laws Of beauty so strict that they were unen-
durable. Then romanticism caught at tho
strained and extraordinary. and that voin was
worked out. Now we have naturalism which
finds the beauty and interest in common every
DAY life and feeling. and I should say It will en-
dure as long as that life and feeling endure.
"All the great minds are at work along that
line. There hasn't boon q writer OF the first
class dealing with romantic fiction within the
last twenty five years. Just look the ground
over and see. Plenty Of second and third class
men have gone on writing romantic novels and
they have more readers than the naturalists;
but, all the same, the brains are going into
naturalism. Literature and thought progress
along the lines Of natural law and follow natu-
raj tranSltlOnB, DuU Ln0T6 aT0 always Wnhb On0
might call survivals, and so far as romanticism
Is concerned the survival is among the unedu-
Gated masses-for the masses are uneducated-
and the critics. There is always q class Of
readers that keeps up with the advanced limos
octhought, but tho majority sticks to a form
If literature or art after the world has outRrown
the conditions which produced 1t, and they
won't listen to anything new. The critics speak
for the masses. They are the uneducated
masses vocalized, articulate. / suppose that Is
all right. They have their mission, but many
OF them haven't opened their eyes to the real
nature Of the new movement.
II confess, though, I don't SEQ what lies be-
yond naturalism. Progress doesn't work
backward. and it seems as II naturalism were
the last word. l suppose the future develop
ment will be psychological. This naturalism
has gones.through some queer phases. and given
us some CHASTITY truths. The men who think
discovered that all things arc vital II they arc
true. SO they vent to work hunting for truths,
and they found a good deal that Is f~earfully
gross. But that is to be expected. 1t will
work out all right. 1t 10 only ono feature of
great movement, and it is conspicuous only be-
cause 1t Is gross. Look at tho other phases
Of the movement. There is BJornson. He
Is a splendid example of naturalism, and was
anything ever purer and sweeter than his
storiesi There are a good many Of his kind
among the modern Spanish, italian, and Rus
sian writer's. Then look at Tolstoy and Hardy
and Mrs. Ward. They may be fearless. but
they are not uselessly gross.
For some reason people always think of
the French school when one talks of realism.
That's a mistake. The movement hasn't been
80 much alive or so fully expressed in
France as in the other countries of Europe.
Probably the impression comes from what
every one knows about lola. He has dug up
some terrible things. but 1 believe thai he is
always honest, and any man Who has produced
work as powerful in form as his has been of
great use to literature. He's an epic poet. and
he shows French life in all its lights and shades
as no one else"
Not even Balzac2'
oh, but Balzac was a semi-romanticist. We
were talking of naturalists. Zola's work Is
diSagreeable, but it is true. Then. to 60 back to
The old subject, he is only one worker among
hundreds. They are all collecting material.
Afterward the great essential truths must be
gathered from the mass. Ibsen knows how to
Bet free tho spiritual, psychical essences. He
handles pure distractions. His dramas deal
with soul, not matter. There's tho future-to
get away from the material. The man who
seems TO me the greatest of them all Is Tolstoy.
lie is the broadcast, the truest. He's q sort OF
abstraction himself. l don't think of him as
masculine or feminine. He's universal, hui
man."
hut, Mr.. Howells. where are the young men
who are going to take all this material that's
being dug out and free the essence OF It'll They
aoht seem to be showing up on the horizon"
On, now. don't know. i think we've a
good many promising young fellows here in
america. Owen Wister and Garland, and
.ahan' who wrote those Jewish stories of tho
cast side, and stephen Crane, who has done
some mighty good work along with some that
Is Indifferent. Those men are all getting hold
OF something. I'm not one of the mon who
thlhk literature Is going to die with our gen.
grafton There are plenty OF good workers
coming on. Most OF our young writers are
aoai'hG with local color and not attempting the
oroAd aspects of life; but, then. that's the trou-
bic with our literature.
America is SO big and the lie here has SO
many sides that a writer can't Synthetic It.
u looks the thing over and decides there is
100 much of 1t, so he contents himself with
ehaIyLlhB some one OF its asDects. That's nna