Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-10-25
I-!-i
|: LITERATURE AND LIFE.
a. j. n.
Observation-Disclosures.

! !. ;. ). !
written for the Times Republican,
The boy public of the country will be
happy to learn they are to have another
peep into the wonderful world that lies
in the brain of Jules Verne.
In his I'D year the imaginative
Frenchman is commencing on ms
| ninety ninth book, with another one
ready for publication entitled La
Grande Forest
In this latter book the author supplies
| the missing link between the highest
| apes and the lowest men.
| The hero is second DR.. Garner, who,
| it is remembered, went to Libreville. OIL
| the African coast, to study the language
of the ape tribes. But in the quaint
peoples, fantastic settings, startling ad-
ventures and daring deeds the French-
mans hero far outstrips his rival.
| After all. fairy stories of the Verne
type serve a purpose other than the en-
tertainment of the youthful imagination.
l
many of the wonderful prophecies and
| inventions recorded In the pages OF
| Verne's fiction have, since he wrote
| them, become actual facts, with the re-
suit of incidentally building up great
fortunes from his daring fights oil fancy
| Two Thousand Leagues Under the
! Sea" resulted in the invention OF the
submarine boat.
| Another of his books-Dr. oxs Elk
| periment',-deals with a scientist VINO
1 flooded little sleepy Dutch town win
oxygen. thereby producing fruits ana
vegetables such as the world had never
before seen. incidentally its erect ren-
dered the phlegmatic Dutchmen demon
| etrative and violent. This Idea was
oaized mon by the head of hrm OF
/ chemical engineers, who turned II 10
/ pood account in the manufacture ana
SUNNY Of oxygen gas for the restoration
4 of exhausted nerves and tired poales,
4 and from this enterprise the firm OF
F,llsworth is now rapidly building up
| great fortune. az 1,,r-
Tn another OF Verne's books-'A jour
,.,. To The Center of the Earth'-a party
climbs down the crater of an extlnce WI
1 cano and reaches the interior vi W.
| earth. Claude Severson, mere se'iO :,
I hoy. read the book. was fascinated py ~
4 and could not shake off the profouho l''l-
preston it created upon his mlho nol
his desire to copy the hero. Many years
| Inter he actually did explore the CRAFTS
of several peaks in New GRANADA. III
1894 camping on the shore of the river
! which fills the old crater pit at the Top
Of the San Geronimo mountain, ne dls-
1 covered the Geronimo emerald helo,
which made him one OF the five richest
men IN the South American continent.
Hall Gaines new novel, THE Eternal
CITY," is a record breaker with us hrsl
| edition Of 100000. That is 100000 more
than the English edition OF the same
| work or the first edition of any other
novel. 81.
One is led to inquire whether this
large edition is due to the merits OF the
| book or to the authors lawsuit with the
persons. AS is we'll known. the latter
| withdrew 1t from their magazine III
which II was running as serial, after
| the first five installments, on the grouhd
1 that It was Indecent, and instituted
lawsuit against Game fora return OF the
sum paid for the rights. y
| Concerning the contents of the book,
reviewers differ. DR.. Nicoll says: me
| treatment, considering the subject. is
marked turnout by singular deiicacy
and reserve"
On the other hand Clement Shorter
calls II vulgar. He quotes from 1t what
he calls vulgar passages, and ADDS: 70
| be pop,,lar. YOU must be vulgar, and Mr.
Game ia determined to be popular,-and
succeeds. =
Arthur Pendenys, the London corre-
spondent for the Critic" in his letter
| To Belinda says: Eternal 1t truly is
with its 27O. 600 words. For the rest, 1t Is
6 story of love and intrigue and political
passion, with Roman setting but not
Whit of Roman atmosphere. The story
Ia of the Master Christian brand with
less feryor to the square inch, and 1t is
without indecency.
There is pocket version Of the book
fanonymous) in the October Critic
| which is either very clever burlesque
| or cruel SANDER. will at an early
late review the book for this column.
/ ssst
The Crisis" (ChurchilD is now on
It's 100000 circulation, exceeding the
sales of Richard Carvel" for the first
three months. The sales of the au-
4 thor's three books are running up to-
ward the million mark, and 1t has been
but three and half years since the
publication of his Celebrity"
saw it stated somewhere that this
1 first publication was declined by SIN
publishers; ie. it takes just three and
| a half years to become famous after
one has been six times declined.
Maurice Thompson's. masterpiece,
"Alice of vincennes.' still keeps we'll
up to the front on the most popular
book" lists of librarians and dealers
/ 1,he work was published by the Bowen