The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-13
In THE LITERARY FIELD
LITERARY TASTE. ESPECIALLY IN
NOVEL READING, II PROGRESSIVE.
A Former Indinnian, Who Is Also a
Novelist, Talks About Books
Length of the stOry-GOssip.

81 rather like bad wine. one gets so bored
with good wine," Disraeli makes one of his
characters declare in ''Sybil." 1t is one of
the minor humors of literature. says
writer in the Philadelphia Press. that the
novelist who made himself prime minister
of England by sheer brilliancy of intellect
was never able to spell correctly the name
of this novel or the character to which it
belonged. But returning TO the quotation
do not suppose that anybody who loved
literature could ever adapt the fantastic
paradox and apply it 10 books. Taste in
reading is progressive. The boy who begins
with detective stories and tales Of Indian
fighting need not be despaired OF. II ne be
a healthy minded lad be sure that he will
soon become satiated with this class or
sensational fiction. He will gradually adj
vance to stories of adventure of a better
type The mere appetite for reading will
demand variety until he finds himself intro
duced to the masters English and Ameri-
can. / have said nothing about serious
reading. History is taught in the school. 1t
is the fault of the teacher if the pupil does
not become interested in some of the great
historical works and standard biographies.
Girls who begin with stories by Charlotte
NJ. Braeme and Bertha NJ. Clay get tired OF
fiction Of that type as experience gives
them a wider outlook on life. Librarians
note a similar condition among adult read
ers. They begin with ephemeral fiction. are
gradually led to Scott. Dickens. Thackeray,
George Eliot and Charlotte Bronte, and
eventually discover for themselves the de-
lights that lie I'm the great treasure house
of English literature. Perhaps the generali-
zation does not hold true in all cases, but
Il is quite justified by the facts.
l am not one OF those who regard novel
reading as an unmiXed evil nowadays.
Writers of fiction are obliged to bring an
equipment TO their work which was not de-
manded twenty or thirty years ago Then
they depended exclusively on imagination
added TO more or less ample knowledge
of men and women. | remember talking
over this subject on one occasion with the
la Alfred Waimesley. one of the most
widely read men that il has ever been my
fortune TO encounter. Though an English
man by birth. he spent the years of "A gen.
Grafton of men in Philadelphia. during the
greater part of that time he was chief
proofreader OF the Public Ledger. We were
talking Of Thackeray. why, said Mr.
Walmesey in his quizzical way, IF Thack-
cray were writing in these days he would
find it hard TO sell his books No magazine
would have them. He didn't know anything.
TO write novels and stories TO meet the
present demand you must know all ABOUT
mining coal. or building a lighthouse, or
running "A locomotive engine, or something
of that sort. You must tell readers some
thing they do not know. something they
may imagine is useful, and put II in the
form of an interesting story in order to
gain the attention of editors and publish
ers.' / remarked that Thackeray knew a
great deal about one thing-human nature;
but Mr.. Walmesey insisted that such
knowledge was not enough for the modern
novelist.
Now there is d great deal of truth al the
bottom of this. You cannot read an ordi-
narily well-written novel without learning
something. or perhaps. variety of things.
This is one OF the interesting developments
of the novel in our time. IL is no longer for
n Jane Austin 10 come 10 the defense of
the novel as she did with much Warmth
in a passage in ''NOrthanger Abbey Ger
tainly / regard history and biography as
better reading for young and old than tic-
ton. To history. biography and memoirs
the writer's of fiction go for many of their
plots and materials. Ii has always seemed
curious to me that readers prefer To take
their history and biography diluted in the
form OF a novel when such a splendid APP
peal is made to the imagination in works
such as those of Motley, Prescott and
Parkman, which are written in "a style that
few writer's of fiction have ever equaled.