The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-30
WILLIAM DEAN HoWELLs.

ject. as a conversation Will, and have
put it down off-hand as it came to me.
When we touched on poetry, Mr.
Howells said: IF 1 were asked what
seemed to be the most significant ten
dency in literature. l should say that
it was the gradual decline of interest
in poetry. / have spoken of 1t as the
twilight of poetry. When 1 began to
write. young people read Byron. BY
ron was indeed, a craze. A little later
everyone read Emerson, Hawthorne,
Teunyson and Whittier. People of lit
erary taste were really fond of poetry.
They committed il to memory; they
talked about it. But now all that seems
TO be changed Browning apparently
closed the poetical cycle. This evan
Nscence of poetry seems to me to be
the most marked change in imaginative
literature"
Howells On Kipling.
Just here I suggested Mr.. Kipling.
"The RecessionaI' and THE White
Mans Burden" Mr.. Howells expressed
the deepest admiration for kipling S
work. but in speaking of THE White
Mans Burden" he said:
1T is very fine and notable; it is
poetry with an object, and it is, per-
haps. the most significant recent ut
terance of a literary man. l think,
however that it has been taken rather
differently from what it was intended.
10 me it seems note of warning. The
idea that ii is our destiny to assume
this tremendous responsibility of gov
erning several million savages, many
thousand miles away, is not at all
clear And since we have approached
this subject, | am glad to be able to
express myself on. the war and its
probable effects on our literature. The
opinion seems TO be pretty generally
held that il will tend 10 bring about
a revival of romanticism. On the
contrary. | believe its influence to be
already past L even doubt if it has
eXerted any real influence. No good
can come from war. 1t can inspire
nothing that is worthy in art or letters.
What did our great civil war do for
literature Literature may be said to
have produced it, but it left no litera-
ture. The revolution was also barren
of inspiration. No book. poem or paint
ing of any value came out of it. War
is a madness, a blind rage: it brushes
and destroys the beautiful"
Mr.. Howells spoke of these subjects
with the greatest earnestness and We
hemence. It was but a step from the
discussion of war and its influences to
a consideration of history.
The Decline of History.
History" he said, lis written in a
different way from what it was forty
years ago, and people do not read the
historical works which they once did.
/ can remember when everyone had
been through with Mouey's Rise of the
Dutch Republic and books Of that
sort. but that has all passed. Now his
tory has become more critical; critical
INQUIRY has taken the place of the
old methods of representation. Indeed,
there is a general conveyance toward
criticism to be noted in all branches
of literature. Naturalism-which is
only a better name for reslism-is a
closer criticism of life than romanti-
cism."
1 asked him what he thought of the
r,eal-life stoTy-the story based on some
actual experience of the writer in
special business or profession, thinking
OF the work of Mir. Hamblen, Mr.. Whit
marsh Mr. Wyckoff and other writers
OF stirring true stories.
"All this NAV have its place." said
Mr.. Howells. In art, things cannot
be real, but natural, some Frenchman
SAYS One transcript of life cannot be
real. but it may be lifelike. II would,
l imagine, be difficult for me to be en-
tirely natural writing a story of the
kind you mention. l Should count il
safer to set out frankly to create, with
out any pledges to that particular kind
OF literalness."
rs there the same chance of win
ming distinction now that there was
formerly?" 1 asked next.
Chances For New Writers.
Yes" said Mr.. Howells; young au-
thors receive recognition quite as
promptly as when L entered the field
more promptly, indeed, for there is an
enIivened curiosity on the part of the
public: a greater demand for new
writers, and it is easier to reach the
public. The rapidity with which Mr..
Kipling, Mr.. Crane and others have
established themselves would show this
TO be true.
THE older writers do not, perhaps,
hold their own quite so well; the eager
ness for new men in authorship de-
tracts a little from the value of the
older men, whose work has lost its
novelty.
''The chances of winning distinction
have. on the whole, increased since a /
time that / can remember; the methods
are much refined and improved: what !
would once have been thought a rare
facility is now very common both in |
verse and prose. \ story in the At !
lantic or Harper's that, forty years
ago would have made an impression,
is now companioned by twenty or
thirty of almost equal merit. The best |
of these take precedence, of course, |
but all have a measure of recognition /
and success. There is more attention |
paid TO what people are doing now. !
The public has become accustomed to |
strong impressions from new men-it |
is moi 50 much surprised when a new