Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-06-15
Books and Authors.

Two novels which Messrs. Harper E.
brothers have In the press are being
oramatizcd and will probably be pro-
"uced on the stage simultaneously
win their publication in the fall One
or these is entitled The Kings
Messenger" by Suzanne Antrobus, the
scenes of which are laid IN New Or
| leans during the early days of its
colonization by the French The
story. we understand. does not depend
, upon its historical setting but relies
rather on the strong dramatic interest
of it's love story. The other novel in
called "A Japanese Nightingale" and
is written by Onoto Watanna, a half
caste Japanese who has already at
: tracted marked attention by her ex-
/ quisitc work in the magazines and
! periodicals. "A Japanese nightingale"
1 L. now appearing scrially in the Wo-
mans Home Companion. but the story
as 1t will appear in book form will be
very much enlarged and rewritten.
| owen JohnsOn's novel, Arrows of the
. Almighty" has just run into it's third
edition within month Of it's publica-
! ton, and Il fourth edition is an
nounccd of Miss Gwendolen Ovcrtons
novel The Heritage of Unrest
| After waiting nearly score of years,
on the nomination of Matthew Arnold,
Brandon Matthews has at last been
elected member of the Athenaeum
Club of London. The length of the
! Waiting list was the cause of the de-
lay, and the honor is of course en-
HANGED by so long lapse of years
Professor Matthews is best known
through his magazine writings, and is
one of the highest American authori-
ties on the modern drama He was
bonn in New Orleans. and is now pro-
! fcssor of literature in Columbia Col
lcge.
The majority of novels. within two
years of publication. have utterly
vanished from the public eye. But
Rupert of HentZau," although now in
its third year. has just been reprinted
for the thirteenth time. Father
Stafford which Henry Holt & Co.
have recently added to their list. bound
uniform with THE Prisoner of Zenda'
and Rupert of Hentzau," makes the
eighth book by Anthony Hope pub
lished by the firm. At present "Ru-
pert of Hcntzau' is the most popular
II of them all.
mills of God" which the AppletOns
are about to bring out, is the work of
a new writer. Elinor Mccartney Lane.
and pictures events in Virginia and
England at the end of the eighteenth
century: George ", Napoleon. Goethe,
Tom Moore and Sheridan appear in
the romance and there are number
of illustrations. apparently contem-
pOrary portraits of the principal char
| acters, executed in various mediums.
the originals. we are told, were per-
sons carefully selected and dressed in
appropriate costumes by the author
and her friends.
III In a recent number of the Century
Magazine appeared the following on
The Days Literary Crazes." from the
| pen Of the late Charles Dudley War
ner:
When the special craze has passed
we notice another thing, and that Is
that the author, not being of the first
rank or of the second, has generally
contributed to the world all that he
has to give in one book, and our time
has been wasted on his other books
and also that in special kind OF writ.
ing a given period-let us say, for ex'
I ample, the historic -rOmantic-we per
ceive that it all has common CHAR
I actor is constructed on the same line:
of adventure and with a prevailing
type of hero and heroine. according u
the pattern set by the first one or two
stories of the sort which became popu
lar. and we see its more or less me
chanicaI construction. and how easli!
il degenerates into commercial DOCK
making.
Nov while some of this writing ha
an individual flavor that makes IL en-
tertajning and profitable in this way
xve NAV be excused from attempting U
\ follow il all merely because 1t happens
Y To he talked about for the moment
and generally talked about in yer.
undiscriminating manner. We nee'
not i'm any company be ashamed II W
have not read it all, especially II W
are ashamed that. considering III
time at our disposal. we nave ho
made the acquaintance of the grea
and small masterpieces of literature
If is said that the fashion OF Uni
world passeth away, and so does IN
mere fashion in literature, the lasnio
that does not follow the eternal ia'
of beauty and symmetry. and con
tribute to the intellectual and spiritua
nart Of man. otherwise 1t is only
waiting in a material existence lin
the lovers. in the words OF the Arac'a
81 storv-teller. It'll there came 10 tne'
the destroyer of Delights ana the gu.
derer Of Companies. he VINO iase :,
waste the palaces and peopieth III
e tOmbs. .,o, ,
he without special anxiety tneh' a.
~ keen mace with all the ephemerai
or literature. lest we should miss Ior III
re moment something that Is pcr"'a"e"
we can rest content in the vast a.
formulation of the tried ana een"'i
Il that the ages have given US. AL.
thing that really belongs to n'era.u'
today we shall certainly find awai
- ing MS tomorrow. The better part II,
tho life of man is in ana ny ~
e ina rination. This is not generaiy ~
Iieved because it is not genera"y ~
,;oved that the chief end of man