Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-08-31

historical romance that comes across
our intellectual pathway may MI up
this or that gap IN our knowledge Of
the annals Of the world or Of that part
OF the world which should be the most
important TO us--our own country.
II may be said that people ought to
60 for their history to the historians,
and not TO novellsts who supply fact
surcharged with fiction That may be
so. But one must confront the acuSl
not with the potential, but with the in
dicatiye. mood Men ought to read au-
thentic history. Granted. But II they
don't, they don't and there's an end
ont. To those who don't II Is well TO
offer the compromise OF the historical
novel
Almost every man OF ordinary intelli-
gonce can separate the fiction from the
fact through the hints supplied by the
novelist himself Where he Is doubtful.
he can have recourse TO the cyclop@dia,
which is usually available II not in his
own home, then at some nearby H.
brary. In order TO enjoy fully novel
Of the historical type, It Will. in fact.
be essential that he should dscrm-
mate the fact from the fiction
Just here comes In the main value OF
historical romance as an educational
factor. Men are driven by II TO the cy-
clOpmdla, and, better stlll, TO history
and biography. II is a known fact that
harper a. Brothers had to issue a new
edition Of TreVeyau's Life Of Fox"
10 supply the interest aroused In that
statesman among the readers of Rich
ard Caryel" Librarians and retail
dealers In books will all inform you
that the demand for standard works Of
this description has considerably in
creased since the historical craze
struck the noyel-reader. You may say
that this is only another phase of the
same cfaze-that the ilctionist catered
to a taste already developed, for the
annals of the past Well, the fact that
this tate exists is In Itself reassuring
sign of our times.
In point OF fact. however, careful in
quiries have met with the answer that
the demand for historical books has
taken certain courses wherein il was
evident that this or that popular fiction
had led the way. Richard Carvel" not
only qulckened popular interest in
Charles James Fox. hut In many OF his
contemporaries, English and American
notably In John Paul Jones. Two
Ives OF that great commander followed
hard In the wake Of Churchlls To-
nance. They may not have been inten-
tionally planned to profit from its sue
cess, but that they did so profit is in
controvertibe.
In the same way ITO Have and To
Hold" reawakened interest in the Vir-
ginia Of early colonial days, and Jan
ice Meredith" In the New York and
New Jersey OF the revolutionary period.
II would be hard TO point out any
realistic" novel which has In similar
way set people TO profitable reading
and 10 equally profitable thought and
discussion concerning what they read
To the old, old cry that the heroes of
romantic fiction, even when they pre-
tend to be historical characters. Ae
not plausible human beings, but fig
ments Of the imagination. the old old
answer may be returned that they are
often as true to the larger facts of life
as the creations Of the so-called real
lists. The Anglo-SaSon is not allowed
10 tell the utter truth. 1t Is right he
should not, so long as his audience Is
largely composed OF the boys and vir-
gins to whom the reverence Of retl-
cence is proverbially due. Nevertheless,
convention for convention. the retl-
iceflce Of the American realist is not less
illusionizing than the exaggeration of
the romancer.
The historical romancer has TO re-
create his world through the mist Of
history. The realist, too. has imita-
lions imposed upon him. Many Of our
noyelists Of this class are refuses or
scholars whose affection for real life
comes largely from the charm exercised
by the unknown and the unegplOred.
They, too, have to re-create their world
Through the mists that have gathered
upon their study -windoN Literary
Era.