Evening star., 1901-11-16

In these days Of much reading a COM
plant Is certain to arise sooner or later
against the length OF the average novel.
The voraciOus readers, those whose desire
Is to pack away as many books within the
year as time will permit. are prone already
to object to the story which requires three
and four hundred closely printed pages to
tell. The more leisurely reader, too, IS
apt to demur when he finds that even with
some degree Of haste, always obnoxious to
this class he cannot finish enough books
within the season to -eep up with the
crowd. Those readers who choose deliber-
ately and read slowly not affected par
ticularly by the length the stories they
prefer, but there Is sad evidence thai this
class. the discriminating readers, must be
set down as almost negligible when the pub
fishers interests concerned. The bid
today is distinctly for the attention of the
lightning swallower of books.
One effect of such a demand as Is here
suggested, for the curtailment Of Ike
novels, may eventually be to stop the pub
lication of the bidders for immediate popu-
lar favor in the monthly magazines. The
serial story is always likely to spin out to
great length. 1t is written to measur~; it
must fill a certain number of issues, ~ fail
of it's mission In too many cases of late
the result is a loss of proportion and
story that has outgrown it's natural bounds
When put into book form such story Is
Handicapped, even though destined for pop
ularity by reason of the name of it's author
and the adrOitness of its exploitation. AS
between that story, between covers, and
shorter one, other things being equal, the
average reader is likely to buy the latter
For in this trade quantity is not so much
sought as in other lines.
At one time publishers believed that the
'short story distinctively so called, would
supply the demand for brief reading mat
ter. But the volume of short stories does
not a 10
same force that the complete, single story
of the same total length does. Lacking
sustained, continuous, related action, 1t
seldom attains TO the same height OF proht-
able popularity. Such works seldom se- into
the top-liners among the "best-selling books
of the MONTH Those lists afford interest
ing iudices of the public taste and are of
course of practical value to publishers as
disclosing the fluctuations of favor. In this
connection it is interesting to note that
Hudson's Law of Psychic Phenomena ap-
pears among the ten most popular works IN
October in the public libraries of New
York Chicago. Los Angeles and Worcester.
This is, however, an exception to the rule
that the highest places are occupied by
novels, Indicating that, as regards mere
numbers. this is Enthusiastically a fiction
reading period. Speaking of popularity, t
is noted that three new books are quickly
bidding for high honOrs in the lists. These
are Amos Judd, The Cavalier and the
Benefactress" The last named story
reached it's third edition within week OF
its appearance. Naturally something must
be attributed in explanation TO the for Se
of the mystery of authorship which sur
rounds the work. The Cavalier has
tered it's fortieth thousand in four weeks.
amos judd has gone to 10000.
The anonymity of the author of Eliza
beth and Her German Garden" and THE
Benefactress" is being scrupulously pre-
served, and it remains question whether
this is for the purpose of stimulating pub
lie interest in the product of her pen or
out of respect for personal sensibilities.
Gertrude AthertOn frankly avowed herself
the author of THE Aristocrats,' first pub
lished without name. after that story had
reached a considerable sale. Consequently
she is unable to capitalize upon the sug-
gestive line author of The Aristocrats,
which under other circumstances would
perhaps give a succeeding book a marked
vogue A London publisher has deliberate
ly utilized the public interest in the un-
known by offering a prize of five guineas
for the discovery of the authorship of a
book One of the London newspapers,
commenting upon this scheme and that of
the best arrangement of ideal heads of the
heroine of a story, says:
Literature and missing word competi-
tlonS' have both their deVotees. If a COM
binatiOn can be made of the two the whole
trade of publishing may be revolutionized
What money Bacon might have made out
of the Shakespeare cypher!''
In this connection il is interesting to
state that the author of IAN EnglIshwo-
mans Love Letters will appear shortly
with new story, which. it is expected
VIII stimulate the waning interest in the
identity of that parsonage.
The fondness which Theodore Roosevelt
has always displayed toward Jacob Eiis
the New York writer about and worker i'm
the homes of the poor. is given new mean
Ing now in the account which Mr.. RiiS pre-
sents of the Presidents views of the social
problems in the course of his recently pub
llShed book, The Making of an American"
which is regarded as one of the notable
volumes of the year. Mr.. Roosevelt and
MT. Riis were brought together when the
former was police commissioner in New
York city and Mr.. Riis was a nolice re-
porter for a daily newspaper. The two
men thought similarly many lines and
this mutuality is now disclosed.
A recently published book about Turkey
By DIR. Henry Otis Dwight entitled Con
stanTinOple and Its Problems" is regarded
as particularly timely now in view not
only OF the recent late unpIeasantness be-
tween the sultan and France but also the
ctose relationship between the governme ent
at Constantinople and the Bulgarian kid
naping OF the American missionary, Miss
stone. There is not much reliable litera-
tere ABOUT turkey within reach today
Georges Dory's Private Life of the Sml
tan gave an insight into personal matters
at Constantinopie. but it did not treat of
the larger questions which now have their
application TO repeated issues.
Richard Harding Davis is aho.,t to
emerge from the silence of many months
with story entitled In the Fog" which
Is said to deal with detective problems in
a light, burlesque spirit. This is an alto
gether new line for the author of .Galle-
CHER and Soldiers of Fortune" and will
probably be watched with interest by those
who have formed a fondness for Mr. Davis
work.
THE Eternal City is not the great sue
cess in England which it was hoped il
would prove 1t has sold to the extent of
less than 100000 copies, and there is no talk
OF second edition. The American sales
nave been much greater, of course This
Is of course for many reasons. one of
Whicn Is that there are more people here
VINO buy books, and another is that Hail
lame Is not so popular at home as he is
mere There are stin other reasons hut
these TWO are sufficient to explain the phe-
nomenon. ' PAie-
one or the lately announced novels is
constructed around Cagliostro a narso-,
aLty sufhciently weird and aIluring 10 in
Splre an imaginative writer to almost limit
less flights Of fancy. -''''''
I1tIi