New-York tribune., 1900-12-02
Gbe Nem'9lork gribmare.
ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1900

rho denandence of some at least OF the cOuht-
boss readers of modern fiction upon the mere
xacbinery of Il novel is shown by recent
complaint made against Mr.. Cohrau AoIu
linn" 1t is a very long narrative ana prac-
ti.onv all of it is given as though from the
lins of one man discOursing TO group VI
friends The quotation marks are little irri-
+otip, we admit and occasionally the quota
tiops within quotations cause mOmentary be-
,riIdcrmant But to sit down and demonstrate by |
mathematical processes that at the rate OF lou
words \ minute NARROW must nave occupied
eleven hours in the telling of his tale Is 10 prove
nothing but the caculatOr's fOndness IOr ng-
ures The imaginative writer never existed
who did not make, as a matter OF course, |
demand upon the imagination OF his reader
The form of Lord Jim" is of no earthly cOnse-
0uence 1t might have been of great cOnse-
Guence if the author had set out to tell some
other kind of story if he had cared chiefly Tor
the dramatic side of Jim's experience But he
was driving at nothing more nor less than the
ANALYSIS of the mans soul. He could not we
believe have chosen better form for his pur-
pose than just the one on which he fixed.
To the essayist In search of a theme, to the |
hack who must make : book out of what some |
one else has said or perish, we offer sugges- |
ton Let them collect specimens of hyperbole.
The essayist might weave some diverting pages |
out of them; the antbolOgist would be success
full even though he left his authors to speak for |
themselves In neither case would it be neces-
sary to plough wide field. let the dead past
bury its dead. One need not go far back as
"Sejanus.' The criticisms CD of our own day |
will yield a sufficient harvest. Hearken to Mr.. |
William Archer on Mr.. Stephen Phillips, that
great writer: "He is totally new phenomenon |
in English drama Of the past two centuries-at |
once an inventor of situations and master OF
language" 'He reminds one (tO choose a very |
rough illustratiOn) of the elder Dumas speaking |
with the voice of Milton. AS the Illustration is |
not only trough" but ridiculous, why choose il? |
But there are better things to come. His |
style is essentially epic" We wish we could |
guess what this means. His Imagination is |
grandioSe not fantastic; his style is resonant |
not scintillating" AS who should say, we may |
remark in passing, "His face is white. not !
black" Now the humOr of the situation lies
in the fact that there is like your latter
day critic for harping on the "nuance" on the
subtle distinction, on the minute exactitude of |
his judgments. Mr.. Archer, as We have seen,
is strong the distinction between what is
grandose and what is fantastic as though
there were any danger that a reasoning human
being would confuse the two but he sees moth
ing wrong in bundling Dumas, Milton and Mr..
Phillips into the same sentence nor can he see
anything wrong about tie other gems we have
quoted. No. ii is the fashion nowadays to del
uge the object of your admiration with any
epithets you can get out of the dictionary.
casual query IN THE Academy about the
authorship of a fairy tale published twenty
years ago produced no less than twelve letters
from mature readers. This suggested to the
editor that "the polite reading world is keenIy
interested in fairy tales, and in Christmas lit
erature generally" Why not? The truth is
that the old categOries suffering changes,
and the publications of any season have much
wider and more varied audience than is COM
monty assumed. Huxley like Bismarck. was
fond of a novel from time TO time Mr. Kin
lngs Jungle Books" might fairly be classified
as Juyenla, but, as matter of fact they are
read with delight by persons Cf ali ages And
so with fairy tales, which we have particularly
in mind at the moment, 4 nursery public is not
the only one TO be considered. The study of
folklOTe which is cOmmOner now than il ever
was before, has doubtless something ta do with
the fact Mr.. Andrew Lang we fancy wouId
greet new fairy tale with as much enthusiasm
as he would feel over an unpublished anecdote
about Prince Charlie Editors and publishers
are obviously aware of the increase in admit
sympathy for things once relegated with indif-
ference TO boys and girls, they bring out col