New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-05-15
NeSp91ork Gribn,tG
SUNDAY, MAY IS, 1893.
ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT.

Mr. Henry James Spcct!aes with much AMI
nation about "the question Of groups and d.
rections In American felton," and would appear
to be under the impression that without such
Schools we arc badly off, ut VIII take some
attentive experiment." he declares ito assure
US either Of our poverty or of our wealth. 10
an observer less preoccupicd than Mr.. James
with the side ISSUES of the question the expert
mcnt is soon made and it Is as soon concluded
that while we have some few groups they
do not by any means constitute what might be
called portion OF our literary wealth" For
Mr.. James, in raising this question, Is really
approaching one Of the most promising elements
in our literary development though he does not
seem to know It. Impressed by the Importance
Of the chefs d'ecole' in France he would evil
IDENTITY regard the existence OF such standard
bearers in America as favorable to our growth
In letters. As a matter Of fact the "chef
d'ecole" too often fosters Grass imitation. the
"group," except In the rarest instances, Ii only
another name for the coterle or cque-which
Is Little Pcdlington in essence-and the saliva
ton Of American fiction Is likely to be Its do
tachment, in the main. from the arid formulas
Of selfclccted leaders.
In his recent address on "Criticism" before
the University Extension students, In London,
Mr. AsQuith made some remarks extremely ap-
pOSite to this discussion. 1T was q sure sign
Of the degeneration Of the critic, as SUCH" no
said. "when he lapsed into the habitual use Of
catchwords and formula. There was nothing
more hampcrng to the free and elastic play
Of the judgment than the habit. easily acquired
because it saved trouble, OF drawing ones
words and phrases from particular literary or
artistic dialect" Is this not exactly what Mr..
James has been doing? AS Mr.. Asquh says
the true function Of criticism Is Interpretation,
the first duty Of the critic Is to get inside his
authors skin and there discover his motive. |
The critic following such n procedure takes
small account Of "schoos' and directions"
and never stumbles about among the authors |
Of a nation with a handful Of labelA
The saturday Review" which Is discredit- |
ing itself by the Ignorance and vulgar magnity |
OF its attacks upon America just now. has
nevertheless retained some Of its good judgment
IN purely literary matters at least. Abiding to
the first volume Of the new edition OF Byron
Just published by Murray. the saturday. notes
that II contains eleven OF the thirty hitherto
unpublished poems announced by the publisher.
and continues thus: But it would be Incorrect
to say that they add anything considerable to
Its value. . . . We consider that no good
purpose was served by resuscitating this I'M
fortunate trash, and to this indictment we make
but one exception. With this exception,
II cannot be said that we should be one penny
worth the poorer IL all these new poems Of
Byron had been cast into the fire" Such fear
less mttcrance as this Is TO be priced. 1t Is the
custom nowadays to make much OF the new"
things In a reprint Of masters work, and
relies not worth the paper they are written on
90 10 furnish forth elaborate and costly
volumes. The new Byron does not owe It's sig
nificancc to additions alone, its main claim
upon the attention Of the public lies in its puri-
fcation Of the text. and, furthermore, the criil-
cism Of the Saturday" may prove to be un- /.
deserved But the spirit Of that criticism is .
sound. ,
We wish some one with taste for statistics =
would undertake TO compute the terms Of ex-
lstence vonchsafcd to the novels OF the day. !,
taking the subjects for his OBITUARY notes" y
only those novels which have been acclaimed c
with t0lcrablc unanmy. and extending his re- q
searches over period Of say. two years There {,
Is a singular brcvity about n novels career a
nowadays no matter how good it may be We h
are not thinking Of the book OF which we are q
told on every hand that sit will live" Such V
book usually dies in a season But there are n
the really wcll-writtcn novels, the stories that a
are far from being masterpieces and yet have II
decided merits, which ought to be recognized 81
Where do they go? We leave that to our
that his study of the question ought to produce d"
cny inll Luz into ;rfn