The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-01-27


ent-SOme Masters of a Rare Art of
Invention.
From the New York Mail and Express
In these days of the making of many
books. notably novels, the increasing diff
hculty Of finding good, strong, attractive
titles is preoccupyiug the minds Of busy
authors, and stin more, perhaps those of
the hard-worked literary advisers of the
publishing houses, for the duties of these
gentlemen are many. far more numerous
than the public which accepts or rejects
the novels they select for publication can
possibly suspect. Not the least Of these
duties is the finding of good titles for
good books, for not all authors have the
knack to do this. 1t is often a thank
less task; your writer is generally SEN
sitive being, clinging as franticaly to
title that is bad as to his belief in
story that is really good; but occasional
~ virtue finds its reward in the gratitude
of man who willingly surrenders the
meaningless name selected by himsef IN
favor of a title that is generously allit-
erative, or ruggedly strong, or felicitously
inviting.
The title must fit the book, of course;
but when a title is found that, while APP
propriate, arouses curiousity or interest
on its own account, perfection is reached
in a difficult field. 1t is not perhaps too
much to say that one-half of the English
and American novelists of the past and
present have lacked this form OF inven-
tiveness, and that of the remaining half
but few have been signally successful.
George Eliot did not possess the git.
neither did Dickens, or Thackeray YAM
fly Fair" being the exception that proves
10 tn ha lot 81 a If
Two Cities" and perhaps Hard Times
and "Barnaby Rudge," on account of Its
ruggedness, in that of Dickens. George
Eliot made one deliberate attempt ii
would appear, and failed-in "The I'm
pressions of Theophrastus Such"
Successful titles may be roughly divid-
ed into two classes, the absolutely and
the elatively good. The former arrest at
tentiou even before the book is read they
give full promise of what the prospective
reader is to expect, but the book must
fulfill the promise thus made The appro-
priateness of the relatively good tit'e is
only recognized after the book has been
read "A Window in Thrums'' is an ex-
ample of this relative merit of titles, and
so is "Unleavened Bread"
Charles Reade's Knack.
These titles are excellent, because they
at once attract the attention and arouse
curiosity. Charles Reade too. had this
knack apparently so simple. Foul Play"
"A Terrible Temptation white Lies"
"a Woman Halter and Hard Cash" were
titles we'll calculated to extract the shil-
ings from the pockets of a public avid
of entertainment. For his best-known
book however, he could find only THE
Cloister and the Hearth" which really
deserves to be classed in the second cate
CORY, that of titles whose excellence is
seen after the book itself has been read.
Our own James Fennimore Cooper is
another author who must not be over
looked in the honor list of novelsts with
a talent for titles. his having the added
advantage of being admirably simple.
1.-THE Last of the Mohicans," "Pathfind-
ers," Misunderstanding" "Deerslayer."
1.-The Spy"-how directly these title must
have spoken to the readers of his day and
generationl There was no mistaking their
meaning, and the promise they gave was
conscientiously kept.
Hawthorne stands high in the small
company. "Twice-Told Ia .es." "Mosses
from an old Manse" "The House of the
Seven Cables" THE Scarlet Let ter
THE Marble Faun," Tang. ewood Tales"
are attractive titles, alluring rather than
explicitly promising, with a supremely
clever use of ALTERATION and assonance,
one of the great aids of the maker of
titles. Anthony Tro.lope. too,@ had his
happy moments in Can You Forgive
Herr" THE Way We Live Now" THE
Prime Minister THE American Senator
chow many English prime ministers we
have had in English fiction latelyD, THE
Dukes Children" Ga Duke is always a
safe venture in England and us He
ositys sake, the titles of four unfin, shed
novels-Hawthone's "Dr. Grimshawe' 5
Secret" Tro!lope's THE Land Leaguers. I"
Dickens Mystery of Edwin brood and
Thackeray's Denis Duval," three of
which show ALTERATION.
Fashions in Titles.
There are fashions in titles and some of
them persist. Greene's "Philomela the
Lady Fitz Waters Nightinga e. and
''Morandon. the Tritameron of Love" Of
Elizabethan days lind their successors in
Miss Rhoda Broughton's RED as a Rose
is She" "Alasr' mot Wisely but Too
Well"' and in that undercurrent of minor
fiction in which shone THE Duchess, -
with "Beauty's Daughters" molly
Bawn" and Fairy Lillian" and which
reaches low-water mark in such inven-
tons as Sweet Sin," "Oh, What a
Prague is Love-" and all their kind.
The Bible has often served as a source
of inspiration to authors in search of
titles, and so, of course. has Shakespeare.
MIR, William Dean Howelrs constant re-
lance: "A Hazard of New Fortunes" "A
Modern Instance" "A Foregone Conclu-
sion," THE Quality of Mercy"-these are
apt titles, well found. The Lady of the
Aroostook" and THE Rise of Sias La
!, pham" belong in the categiry of names
whose appropriateness becomes apparent
only in the light of the story itself Maar-
ten Martens, too has not applied in vain
to the Worlds Poet. THE Greater Glory"
was the only title for his book of that
name.
Occasionally the first conner in the field
finds the only good title possible. More s
UTOPIA" was perfect of it's kind; nothing
approaching ii could be found by Mr..
Benamy, who had to content himself with
the clumsy Looking Backward" which
suggested to the professional humorist a
fear that he might suffer from crick in
the neck If he read the book; and Mr..
Howells spoiled his "Altruria" idea
through cOnscientiousness. To be explicit
in describing the scope of his work, re
added the traveller from" and made the
title unweldy. Other writers of social
novels of che future have been equally at
a loss. The late Ignatius Donnely's Gaze
sar's Column" was not particularly good;
and founderlngs In "As it Is to Be-" "A.
d. SO0l," etc, do not improve matters.
Some fashions in novels are short-lived.
Notable among these was the style in
vented by Mrs. Margaret Deland, in
John Ward, Preacher" which was im-
fo1iouad nv aMCfZqr0tt eZhOq-