The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-09

past year or two, only one has a title of
the picturesque or abusive order. This is
Ito Have and to Hold" which was al
ready pre-empted in England, so that the
story had to be issued there in a new guise:
David Harum,' Janice Meredith"
Richard C~arvel"-these are simply named
after the leading characters, and the
as Henry Esmond," for example, is.
Two novels only less successful than these
nave titles that could hardly be bettered
Children sof the Mist" and "Unleavened
Bread stimulate curiosity: more than this.
they express with fine discrimination the
nature of the story. But ii is a reason
able deduction, certainly. that the title
is a minor matter in many respects, even
If now and then a striking title has helped
to sell a book. 1t might be permissible also
to conclude that a colorless title Is little
injury. Nothing could well be less prom
Using than David Harum" or Richard
Carvel," to keep still within the list OF
recent successes.
Tho older noveiists as a rule did not go
far afield for their titles. A superlative
example of felicity is found in Vanity
Fair" But with this exception Thackeray
confined himself to the names of his char
mean little to one unfamiliar with the
books themselves. Dickens's titles, despite
his unused list of these, are not remark
best. 1t would not be difficult to select for
his finest book a more promising title than
"A Tale of Two Cities and such names as
n OlteI 1WlSl dlQ NlCuOldS ~NlChltDy
ere merely fantastic. SCOTS titles are
without exception good, but they are far
more simple than those to which the taste
of modern romancers usually incline. Some
of them. like Rob Roy. gain from asso-
citation Jane Austen inclined to the
proverbial; but although Pride and
Prejudice might be accepted by a modern
novelist, Sense and Sensibility" sayors of
didacticism. 1t is worth noting, too, that
In her later novels Miss Austen preferred
Park" and Emma" George Eliot with
Adam Bede," "Middlemarch'' and Daniel
Deronda" showed a similar taste. Troll
lope's titles were of the purely descriptive
lapsed into such as were calculated to
stimulate curiosity, like Can You Forgive
Herr" Mrs. ELEPHANTS practice varied con-
siderably; she ranged from NAV" and
Joyce" and Salem Chapel" to III that
WIN Not When He May" and 1T was a
Lover and His Lass" But as a rule she
chung to the plain and simple. Perhaps il
may be laid down as a general principle
that Ii Is the inferior novelist who Is main-
ly with a catchy" title
1t is here that the possibility OF duplica-
tion is so frequent. The catchy" titles are
very apt to be spoken for. The instances
of this have been rather marked of late,
much TO the discomfort Of novel readers.
ever are now published both I'm Great
Britain and in the United States We have
half a dozen conspicuous instances OF
novels published under two titles, one for
each side of the water. This leads TO con-
fusion now, and IL there were much chance
that the novels so distinguished would sur
vfve would make the labOrs of the future
photographer uncomfortable. OF course IL is
very hard to resist the temptation 10 take
a title that arouses expectation. But the
author should at least be sure of his
ground. Much Of IL has been titled by his
predecessors