The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1901-01-10
Twentieth Century Literature.

It has been the unanimous verdict OF
the critics that no holiday season has
produced so many readable books in
the line of fiction and biographical
history as the last. 1t is indubitab1e
that the product has been voluminous
beyond precedent, and probably the
| Judgment of the people, who are IN re-
atty in the end the arbiters of an au-
thor's fate, would sustain the critics.
With it conceded that the quantity of
books written by American authors
and the quality of the work are both
superior to former years of the latter
half Of the century, one is inclined to
speculate some on the future of liter
ature in this country.
It is a fact that every American
notes with regret and little mortifica-
ton, perhaps, that among the author
lied lists of the greatest authors and
their works of the past century, the
United States is either altogether
overlooked or only very meagerly rep
resented. Among those whom the
critics are going to let live are, among
the writer's of fiction, such names as
Ba1zac and Dumas, of France, Thack-
cray and Dickens, of England, and
Scott, beside Stevenson and Kipling.
Among the poets are Byron, Tenpy-
son, Swineburne, Wordsworth, Hugo,
De Mussey, Heine, Goethe and Pushkin.
Among the historians are Macaulay,
Mommsen, Ranke, Taine, Carlyle and
Theirs. Where are the Americans?
Occasionally some lone critic will find
a place among the writer's of fiction
for Hawthorne and Cooper, and among
the poets for Holmes and Lowell. En-
merson and Fiske are also mentioned
at times, but they are all usually spok-
en- of as among those less fortunate
ones whose writings, though loved by
their contemporaries, will not be able
to endure the test of time.
If the beacon lights of American lit
erature are all undeserving of a niche
in the hall of fame, what are the pros
poets for the twentieth century? If
Hawthorne and Cooper and Lowell
and Emerson'are doomed to "pa1e their
Intellectual light" in the mists of the
coming years, what of the men and
women who are at present representing
the United States in the literary arena!
The writer's Of the old school are al
most passed away. Holmes lived to be
as he wrote, "The last leaf on the
tree" and Howe11s is practically the
only survivor of the galaxy of literary
stars that formerly shone in the dia-
dem of American literature. New
writer's are taking the places of the old
ard the new century begins with an
entirely new coterie of aspirants
struggling for literary honors unat-
tanned or abandoned by those who
have gone before.
What the prospects are, those best
able to judge are too reticent to hazard.
It is probably safe to say that the
Younger writer's of the United States
have kept pace with the younger writ
ers of other countries, with the posi-
bic exception of England, and Page,
Grant, Har1and and Bachelor have
been well received by the public and
credited by the critics with quite an
unusual degree of talent. What, if
they are allowed to live, these authors
will achieve is entirely a matter of
con lecture. AS yet no latter day au-
thor has sprung into life with that
immortal spark ag1ow in his lines that
seems to betoken another Thackery or
Dickens, or even another Hawthorne.
Whatever else may be said of the
twentieth century, it may certainly be
ventured that in the first years, at least,
there will be no dearth of new and
fresh reading, whatever may be said
of the quality of the work and its eff
feet upon the literature of the country
and the thought of the age.