The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-04-27

4
part of the volume which tells of the
| literary work. Early in his career Be-
| SAINT was not able to supply the demand
for the papers and articles he wrote.
he tells how this came about, as follows:
Il. / was not dependent on literature.
| could spend time on my work.
So began by producing a book which
l desired to be considered a specialist.
| The work had a success d'estime and in
sense made my literary fortune.
So This book opened the doors of
magazines and reviews for me.
"A The knowledge of French matters
also opened the doors of the daily press
to me.
50 followed up the line by a second
book on the same subject"
For many years Sir Walter worked
with James Rice as a collaboration, and
then followed eighteen years of indi-
vidual writing. During that time he
writes, Il have always been engaged
for three years in advance. l have been
relieved from every kind of pecuniary
anxiety; my income has been multiplied
by three at least, and I have had the
offer of great deal more work than |
could undertake"
1t would be difficult to estimate the
influence which this Englishman has had
on the profession of letters, not only in
his own country, but here as we'll. He
was the organizer of the Authors So
ciety and he seemed to believe through
out his entire life that publishers were
a species of robbers who lived in ease
off the labors of the men who write. In
spite of his continual attacks on pub
fishers, he had many warm friends
among them. He was also a great
source Of profit to the literary agent, be-
cause, in his fights against the publish
ers, he advocated the establishment of
authors agencies which should protect
the interests of those who wrote. AS
matter of fact, Besant must have had
large share in the gradual rise of prices
for literary wares in England. In spite
of this, however, most publishers admit
that his labors have been of value to
them in trying to keep down the produc-
tion of poor stuff. Besant writes regard
ing this:
I'VE have been accused of fostering
the ambitions of the incapable and of
helping flood the market with trash.
Far from it, we dissuade by every
means in our power: we have readers
who give them the plain truth; we adj
vertise warnings against paying for the
publication of manuscripts. But | con-
TESS that we can do little to keep down
the swelling stream of aspirants. Thou
sands of pens are flying over the paper
at this moment, and every moment pro-
ducing bad novels and worse poetry. We
check some of them; the rest must learn
by bitter Disappointment"
Besant, it may be remembered was
one of the three captains who defended
the piracy of Counting of Dinah.
Shadd" by an American publishing
house, according to Kiplings poem, 1.-THE
Rhyme of the Three Captains"
The Rubaiat of Omar Khayyam has
been dramatized by Mr.. George Seibel,
a Pittsburg editor. and Mfr. Richard
Mansfield will present the version early
next season. We shall expect to heaE.,
says London Literature, that some one
has made a dramatized version of The
Origin of Species or the Book of Pro-
verbs" p.
The business of dramatizng popular
novels has reached state of separate
vocation. Nowadays a good rescaster of
a popular book may make very COM
Portable living. and that, too, without
trying to grind out several plays in
year. Publishers are beginning to con-
slider dramatic rights whenever they take
up romantic tale, and, in many cases.
the income from the play made from a
romantic novel is away ahead of the roy
alties gained from book publication |
CHANGED to learn the other day that two
of last years popular novels were first
written as plays, but never staged.
friend of the author who happened to
read the plays advised his making reg
ular novels out of the plots. This was
done, and the author reaped a conSid
erable income. Then an enterpriSing
theatrical manager bought the dramatic
version of one of the books, and it is now
making a great success on the stage
as well. 1t would seem from this eX-
perience that a successful romantic play
must have a previous state of existence
between book covers in a volume which
has taken the popular taste.
1t is now no longer denied that Mr..
David Graham Phillips is the author of
THE Great God Success" a story of
newspaper life in New York city, which
attracted considerable attention last
year because of its faithful representa-
tions of happenings in Park Row. Mr.
Phillips drew on his own experiences
considerably. One of these instances
furnished the writer a clue to the iden-
tity of John Graham" the pen name
attached to- the title page. The hero of
the tale makes his first hit in the news
paper Office in which he is employed in
exactly the same way that Mr. Phillips
himself established himself on the New
York Sun. Mr.. Phillips was until recent
ly a leading editorial writer on one of
the New York newspapers, but he gave
! this work uB in order to write books
His second story will shortly appear I'M
der the title, Her Serene Highness,
reading