The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-30

thlnk there are some signs of its COM
ing. don't see why a story in verse
should not be done again. Don Juan, and
even the ODYSSEY, are really novels in
The appeal of poetry is the most I'M
mediate and universal of anv form of ut-
erature. 1t appeals to the young. to sensi-
1--WE nerves; we do not respond to it so
readily when We grow old.
something as marked as the twilight
VI poetry IS the decline of the ESSAY. The
essayist has practically disappeared from
the held in the sense of any direct and
immediate influence on the public. This.
100 Is a comparatively recent change.
MANY OF the greatest minds must now be
content TO influence the public by influenc-
ing those who work through the press.
the pulpit, the stage, and the more poDu-
Tar forms of literature, upon the mass of
the people. They don't reach the public
directly, and 1t Is no longer necessary that
they should, for there are middle men in
thought, just as there are in trade Take
Totstoi Ibsen Hauptman and others: their
greatness is manifest by the influence they
WELD in this indirect way for the regen-
Grafton of thought, and their own work
might be, for the time, denied the wider
audience"
Speaks of lola.
a z
lola and his work
''Zola is one of the men who has no
intermediary. He is decidedly moral. in
spite of his materials. Any true presenta-
ton of life must be moral. l would not
for that reason advocate putting his books
| in every ones hands. To put them in the
hands of immature people would be as
ridiculous and dangerous as to put certain
parts of the Bible in the hands of young
| children.
Il believe that the trend Of literature is
toward health, rather than unheaith.
! There are eddies and counter currents and
some new elements, perhaps, but the trend
and current is healthful, and it is signifi-
cant that the influence of literature has in
| creased with the immense increase in
| printed matter. The output on the whole
is better form, truer. There Is. of course,
a vast amount of rot; but then three
| fourths of the British classics might be
| given to the poor. Even the hack work OF
which SO much must of necessity be done,
is better now than it has ever been"
Pay for Literary Wares.
THE pay for literary work is infinitely
better. The Grub street days no longer
exist Prices are doubled, tripled, quad
rupled No one in the United States,
when I began to write, lived by author
|
! way
1T have never been sensible that the
remoteness from type and printing presses
| in which most authors live and labor now
| adays has In any way changed the char
acter Of writing. Proximity to the means
of production gave one a sense of hurry,
a false facility and all that. 1t would
tend to Journalism and journalism is
merely hurried literature.
| mo! Writers have not become more
timid with the changed conditions and
interdependence of modern life. They
are holder, decidedly Very few men are
now afraid TO say what they think. The
trouble is to know what they think at
! all. A good deal that passes for boldness,
and strong writing, is in reality quite the
reverse. Any sort of vehemence Is an in
dication of weakness.
Refinement is a mode of strength, and
| If man is strong enough to hold still,
and refine his work, his reward is almost
certain, for delicacy Is proof of power"
Il cannot say that I think there has
been any especial change in the relation
| of an author to his audience 1t is not
more intimate There Is a change in man
ner from generation to generation, which
may appear like a change of character,
| but 1t is not. Thomas Hardy, the most
| famous among modern Englishmen of let
| tiers, is not so unpleasantly intimate with
his readers as Dickens was with his.
THE personal note in letters may seem
more pronounced than formerly, but 1
doubt if 1t really is. Consider Montaigne.
No one could be more personal than he
was Charles Lamb. Leigh Hunt, the es-
sayists of the Spectator, all were personal.
The amnesty of journalism has done
much 10 discourage this personal note.
'I do not think the growth of the maya
zines has brought about any real change.
It is a different form of publication-that
is all. IT has promoted the snort s1oiS'
and it has fostered the novel also. WINE ,,,
eeilore ai1 nnia11-, vel more novels are
issued IN this way every year ,,s
1.-The magazines of thirty years ago on il :
fered from the magazines OF To-Day IN 'n ne
inferiority or absence OF Alustratlois' ~
the inferiority OF its hleralure' anu 'he
prov ncialism of its criticism
Eyes. the influence OF the inasaznes ma. I,aS
been decidedly beneficial 70 tne heeIa t,l.
that is closest to he ana tna' y tlie VS. -
literature. 1t has brought II cioser. Closer. ~ /.