The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-06-02
SOME RECENT BOOKS.


Within the last year or so there have
been published four novels which have
attracted a great deal of attention.
They are: Janice Meredith" Richard
Carvel," 1.-THE Prisoners of Hope" and
ITO Have and to Hold" All of these
works have had phenomenal sales. In
the book lists one can see how many
thousands have been sold But, after
all, the sale of a book does not es-
tablish it's literary merit. For instance,
the sale of many of Gunther's books
has been unprecedented, but the sale
puts no literary value upon the rubbish
he has written.
But the books quoted above are books
which make claim of literary merit and
invite careful criticism. They are the
outcome of a distinct phase of develop
ment of the literary talent of the United
States. There have been historical sto-
ries written in the United States; there
have been distinct attempts at writing
up the past as Cooper tried in his ad-
mirable tales which, alas, the modern
generation seldom gets acquainted with.
Then there is herd of others, good,
bad, and Indifferent, who have tried
their hand upon the fiction of the Unit
ed States, but it has had to be left to
this last year of the century to produce
the true historical novelist.
After reading the set of books men
toned above, what one ought to do is
To oil
ians,' and to get the full flavor of the
time, his "Esmond" Having carefully
considered those, one may be in meas
ure be prepared to criticize. Thackeray
dealt with a parallel period in the "Vir-
ginians," and gave a historical sketch
of the colony at that time.
There can be but little discussion as
to the merits of the volumes. Miss
Johnson's Prisoners of Hope" and ITO
Have and to Hold" far eclipse Mr..
Churchill's Richard Carvel," or Paul
Ford's Janice Meredith" The books
treat almost entirely of one section of
the States which then We're colonies.
They show careful study, and it is their
reproduction of the manners of the past
which give them their charm.
That Virginia should be the seat of
romance is not 10 be surprised at The
romancer, to be successful, must look
at extremes. The peculiar civilization
of Virginia in it's colonial days was GER
tainly wonderfully picturesque. The
novelist naturally turns from that time
to the present, and the present is not
picturesque.
Comparing the work of these new au-
thors with that of Thackeray in the two
novels mentioned above, one is at once
struck as to where the difference lies.
AS far as a study of character is con-
cerned. Thackeray's Harry and George
Esmond are infinitely better drawn than
any character in the books under re-
view. Not only that, but the sketch of
Washington, in spite of blemishes, is
a far superior characteristic than is
found in Janice Meredith" which is
purely conventional.
But Thackeray had his limitations.
He could draw character magnificentiy.
He could probe human nature to it's
depths of meanness, but he could not
appreciate the beauties OF anything out
side bricks and mortar.
Now here is where a new novelist like
Miss Johnson comes in. She has the
power of depicting character certainly,
and she does 1t with a trenehant pen.
But where Miss Johnson rises is in the
description of the scenery of her State.
She has done for Virginia what Walter
Scott did for Scotland. Before the
Wizard of the North" made people feel
for the Scottish highlands as he felt,
there was nothing to be considered
about them. People laughed at the
glamor which Sir Walter Scott had
thrown around them, but his pen made
the Highlands famous, and millions
have gone to see what his pen pOr-
trayed.
This is what Miss Johnson has done
for her State. She makes us lives in the
woods of the old dominion. She makes
us enjoy a sail upon the broad bosom of
the Potomac and the James. She and
her fellow nOVelists make us understand
not only the people of that long past
time, but their surroundings and the
reasons why they were what they We're
To the careful reader this evolution Of
Virginia fiction is epoch making. 1t
shows that the writer's feel that some
thing should be remembered out of
forgotten past. The writers like the
singers Of earlier centuries, feel that
they must say their say or sing their
song. Certainly no one can be sorry
for the very excellent tones which have
come recently from the Virginia muse.
AS far as one can judge a high literary
standard has been achieved, and IT will
require very great effort and true merit
for writer's to reach the grade of Mary
Johnson, Winston Churchill or Paul
Leicester Ford.