The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-02-16
LITERARY NOTES.

DR.. Conan Doyle has arrived at the dig
nifty of a collected edition Of his works. an
honor more commonly given of late than
In past years.
The Oldest known manuscript OF THE
Thousand and One Nights" is said TO have
lately been discovered by Prof. c. Seybold
among the Arabic MSS. IN the university
library at Tubingen. 1t contains one story
not extant in any other collection
An interesting document never before ac-
cessible in English is the Latin text Of the
account Of the trial of Jeanne dare, which
is to be published soon in London in an
English translation. This narrative covers
the whole of the heroine's life from the
cradle to her tragic end.
The Boston Transcript has proper APP
probation of Joseph Conrad, saying of him:
1T is not so often that we get story by
that rare genius who pictures life in the
most remote and terrible corners of the
world into which white men venture but
that the beginning of 'TyphoOn IN the
Critic for February is nothing short OF an
event"
Charles Dickens once refused a baronetcy,
and in his will he directed that there be
public announcement of his burial and
that his name be inscribed on his tomb in
plain English letters without the addi-
ton of Mr.. or csquire;" and besought his
friends not TO make him the subject OF any
monument memorial or teStlmOnlai what
ever" and he added: Il rest my claims TO
the remembrance of my country upon my
published works"
In explanation of the enormous literary
output of America, NJ. De Novino, the
French critic; says that the American miss
rushes from her graduation essay to the
nearest publisher and floods the market
with romances. He cites the waning pOpu-
laTltV of HOWellS and James proof that
we are no stickers for style in this coun-
try, and he sees no promise Of the reincar-
nation of the genius Of Emerson and HaW-
thorne IN the present generation
Benjamin S. Parker, the Indiana poet,
celebrated his sixty-ninth birthday at his
home in New Castle last Monday. Al
though he began his writing career soon
after 1850, his pen is still active, and he
will mark his SEVENTEEN year by the pub
LEGATION of a volume of sketches dealing
with the early life and events of the region
ia which he lives. 1t will include incidents
connected with the laying and building or
the National road, and will thus have an
historical value.
The most singular curiosity in the way
Of literature belonged to the family OF
the Prince De Linge, and is probably yet
in France. 1t was a book neither written
nor printed, the letters of the text being
cut out of the finest vellum and interlaced
with blue paper, thus making il very plain
to read. The labor and patience bestowed
| upon il must have been excessive, cOnsld-
ering the minuteneSS and perfection OF the
letters The general execution is admirable
and the vellum of the most delicate anG
! PASSIONS DOmini Nostri Jesu Christi cum
Characteribus Nula Materia Compostis."
The Charlottesville Journal makes this
interesting announcement: Miss Caroline
Brown (F<rouD has almost completed an
other novel. 1t is longer than anything she
has previously written, containing over
three hundred pages. The scene is laid
mostly in Indiana not very far from CraW-
louisville. The time is within the last five
! years. Miss Krout is now giving her
manuscript its final revision and expects
| TO have it ready for the publisher within
six months" Miss Krout's first novel,
knights in Fustian," published year or
| so ago, is an admirable story OF Indiana
! life during the civil war and deserves a
much wider recognition than il has re-
ceived
Mr.. H G. Wells resents the ascription
to him of a statement that ''the study Of
the classics, however great, is senility."
| His precise words were: Contemporary
! literature is the breath of civilized life
! and those who sincerely think and write
| the salt of the social body To humble
/ over the past, to live on the classics how
/ ever splendid, is senility." That" he
adds, does not condemn the study Of the
/ CldSSlCS at All. SnOuiQ CONSIDER the QlSre-
gard of the classics Of such a literature as
ours as the shallowest sort of stupidity and
/ my phrase has no sort of reference what
ever to the educational value Of the Greek
/ and Latin classics, on which question 1
| keep open mind.
The Cornhill Magazine contains some in
teresting recollectiOns of Browning at
Venice by an American lady called Mrs
! De Kay Bronson, with an Introductory
note by Henry James The following sketch
of Browning is interesting: 1.-THE poets
! nature was so essentially joyous that one
| was at loss 10 decide where he took the
| keenest pleasure, whether in his daily
| walks or his afternoon rows in the gondola
He was very proud of his retentive
! memory and of his wel-preserved sight
! The latter he attributed 10 the practice OF
| bathing his eyes with cold water every
! morning. He was proud, too, Of HIS
strength, of his power of walking for hours
without fatigue, of the few requirements
! Of his Spartan-like daily life, and above
all, he was proud of his son, who was his
| idol"