The times., 1899-11-12
New york in Fiction.

"A Confident Tomorrow" is the work of
Brander Matthews, whose work in fiction
is already known for its cIeverness and
humor Hitherto, however. Mr. Matthews
efforts have been chiefly in the field of tbs
short story or the novelette-"In the Vesti-
bule Limited" and The Royal Marine,
for example OF all the uncounted authors
who make New York their headquarters
he is one of the few who are New Workers
TO their fingers ends. Less poetic than
the late H. c. Bunner, less eXtravagant il
fancy than Thomas A. Janvier, his sense Of
humor and Photographic accuracy in draw
ing details remind one of both
The latest book OF this author. is rather
more ambitious than most Of his tales foI
it is q complete novel, the theme being the
career of a young Western newspaper man
who comes to New York with a novel il
his pocket. hope in his heart, and crudity
and yerdant ineXperience in his aspect. Il
is the struggle between the greenhOrn and
the metropolis. This is always interesting
and the only trouble with il is that it has
been handled before. The situation is q
fayorite one of Howells, who loves nothing
better than 10 picture the alternate discom-
future and development of the greenhoTn,
and it has been touched more or less by
half the other men who have written of
New York. 1t Is, in fact, almost the typi-
cal situation of New York life in its Bohe-
mian phase, and when a situation is as
trite as that the only excuse for using it Is
the possibility OF bringing out new aspect
of il, or of eXcelliug all who have gone be-
fore in its general treatment
It cannot be said that Mr.. Matthews has
done either in this instance. His Frank
Sartan is only an ordinary young Journal
rT,g g, tfsft
be depicts is that of the publishing houses
and the studios Except for the Topeka
I atmosphere surrounding Sartain, he Is il
fact very much like the hero OF Howells
World of Chance" in circumstance and
career. Shelley Ray was a gentleman, IA
miliar with social usages. Sartain
was so far ignorant Of them
as to reply to a formal in
vltation on postcard. The advantage in
! personality is in favor Of Ray. Again, the
! personality of the heroine is somewhat the
! same in both books. Ia both cases she is
| the daughter of a rugged old half-literary,
! half-socialisuc character, who has gotten
! into trouble through his opinions. IN both
! cases her personal worth causes her to be
| the associate OF people socially somewhat
| above her. In Mr. Howells' novel the enc
| of the romance was not so happy as in Mr.
| Matthews, but that, il must be said, is
rather more in keeping with life. IN
/ height and breadth Of treatment and in
| philosophc significance The World of
| Chance" is far beyond Mr.. Matthews novel
1t is usually ungrateful business, that
| Of detecting plagiarism, but there are cases
when comment OF the kind is justihzble. In
| this case there was not of course plagiar-
! ism. but a writer as experienced and brill
| liant as Mr. Matthews should have had the
| good judgment not to make his book quite
so similar TO the one which is far superior
! TO it, If he had stuck TO his own line
! that Of brilliant persihage and subtle char
| acter sketches-he would have been uusur-
! passed, but when he goes in for serious
| studies OF psychological development, he is
| what no one would ever expect him TO be
| crude and awkward. The book is a good
one. with all its faults; but it is not as
good as one might have expected from its
author
The two things in the novel which are
really striking in their fneness are first,
the description OF New York as it appears
| to the Western stranger, and second. the
| character of that eccentric painter,
| Emerson Adams, called "Madams for
short by his lively young girl friends The
character of Raphael Dirck, father of Es-
| ther the heroine, is also admirably done
though there are flaws in it. One comes
| back however. TO the picture of the great
| city as ii first daWned upon Frank Sartais
! as the finest and most complets thing in the
book. and It is almost on the first page
| This is a part Of It:
The rain, after racing with the train over the
Aleghanics the day before, had reached tine Hud-