The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-10-01
WILMINGTON N. C.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1.


finenta1 languages, have beer often very
obnoxious to criticism, extremely Of
fensiye to good morals n absolutely
uncIean. Scores Of them-in the last
-decade-that have been widely read in
the homes OF American people, and by
women Of intelligence and virtue have
been too salacious and low and destruc-
tive to be countenanced. They have
been used to a considerable extent, as
Z northern writer said some time ago,
lin breaking down the s~acredness OF
marriage and promulgating Of loose
and unchristian ideas Of the relation
of the sexes" He further charged, and
we doubt not with entire truthfulness.
If we may Judge by such novels as we
have read Of that sort-"Jude," Tess
and one or two others perhaps-that
several of the most popular novels OF
recent years are adapted to make
light of gross departure from sexual
purity. Senua1ity is exalted in the
law of life: women who have fallen
from purity into gross immortality are
the heroines of the stories. sympathy
and admiration are Unlisted for the
wrong doer in the way that makes
wickedness attractive, and vice an ex-
cusable weakness" And these are the
kind of fiction that has been widely
patronized and introduced into the
homes of respectable, moral people.
1t is shocking. Some years ago in a
publication called 1.-The Realm" a writ
er unknown to Is was writing OF the
garrish, unhealthy, unnatural novels
so frequent then, and more Astounding
now, said this:
THE woman who scribbles off an au-
dacious novel, without plot or evolu-
ton. and floats it with scabrouS in
nuendo and a daring defiance Of con-
ventional opinions, is not trying to en-
nobIe the sentiment of her fellow-Wo-
men. Each of these-and they are
types of an immense class that has in
vaded modern literature-is simply
carrying a cheap trash to a quick mar
ket, and is doing the best he or she
can. in a d~eciduous and feveriSh way,
to bring about that final anarchy OF
letters which not a few of us see as a
threatening possibility ahead of this
dying century"
This is true. The success of a novel
Is not OW-pcIlldp IL "~
pendent upon it's superior style, its &C
curacy of diction, its fine taste, It's
cleyerness, it's refinement, it's purity,
its high moral tone. The public is not
sseeking after books above its taste and
understanding. The large audiences IS
a general thing do not wait upon writ
ers of rare charm and elegance of style
4rr~h ar nIIrifu of
motif. They follow after those who
+, give them not genuine painting in
~oil richly framed, but seek the glar1ng
colored chromos and the cheaper pic
lures of life and There are
novels now, as there were last year and
every year for ten years back, that have
no claim whatever of belonging to a lit
erary product of rare art and highest
value OF form. Many novels have had
large sales hat were commonplace
without distinction, of any kind, fab
by. coarse, inartistic, of wretched COM
position. This large class Of novels ap-
neal to a class of readers for Whom
style does not exist. The writer quot
ed from already says that eff a we'll
written novel succeeds, it succeeds in
spite of, and not because of, its tech
nical merits and the care which the
writer has given to it. What its read
-ers would like much better than its
Qualities would be the ad-
iectives and the lax constructions OF
the majority of its rivals"
There are several writer's of novels
living who are strong as to style and
of marked skill, but some of their
books are not of pure and desirable
type. Hardy is often great but he is
often nasty. He shows genius highly
cultivated. Meredith is indeed a writ
-er of great passages and great scenes,
and some OF his novels range high, but
he is mainly a poor writer as to style.
The American Crawford, Mrs. Ward,
Mrs. Barr. and some others write well,
and their books are sought by people
of culture and attachments and OF wide
reading. While there is though to
be decadence in literature, and a dearth
of real genius. this being eminently a
sign of mediocrity in some depart
ments Of letters, as we'll as h prev
alence of slip-shod productions and or
-tawdy or dull style, there is neverthe-
less some good work done-not Of the
highest by any means-in poetry, es-
SAYS, history, etc. But at no other time
in the worlds history have there been
so many writer's, aspirants and read
ers who appear by he thousand each
wear. and magazines are multiplied at
n fearful rate. London alone has
enough. it would seem, to supply the
entire world.
We raised a question in a recent ed
Itorial as to whether President Roose- |
welt had written a life of Cromwell. |
Two lists of his writings we consulted |