The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-08-10
NEWS AND VIEWS
OF THE BOOK WORLD
BY HERBERT BREWSTER.

ers- No task at authorship is too great
for him; he viii compile an anthology.
translate a foreign novel. write love
ballad or review the last published
book, provided only the compensation
in dollars and cents for his labor is
satisfactorily arranged. Naturally
enough. the s'hack," though he may be
ever so clever, is not loved by his fell
lows Too many hacks" spoil the mar
ket. The regular authors-thoSe work
ing for fame and tlle glory of literature
tsaVe the mark,)-regard these hard
iahoring penmen as little better than
criminal What is our intellectual life
coming 10 when it is debased in this
manner they waiI-and with much
reason, too. The hack is not even
necessary evil, but he has taken ad-
vantage of his opportunities and in
consequence has grown to be quite an
Institution.
At least one of these literary hacks
has gone his competitors one better.
Where all formerly took their assign
fnents from publishers and were con-
tent with eternal acknowledgements
always, the compensation be sufficient
this progressive hack viii now lease
his Pegasus to any Individual who is
willing TO pay for the privilege of rid
Ing towards literary fame, even though
II be on a borrowed horse. The condi-
ton is not entirely new. for every col
tege man has had. in his sophomore
days, alluring offers from various lite
rary firms who were willing to write
his themes, essays and orations for a
consideration. and we have known of
the Dumas novel factory and of other
eases where one writer stole the thun-
der and work of another, but the amaz-
frrs~ hi -. -
Gently there seems to have developed a
tendency among men and women. un-
known TO the world of books, to secure
literary fame in this simple manner. A
society woman, for example. is ambi-
tious to be known as the author of
book; she employs a hack" who does
the entire labor of writing the volume.
The writer has in mind a well known
chicago woman who employed a pro-
fessional hack" to write a novel for
| her. The temptation came to her in a
small way first. She had made a Eu-
ropean trip for the purpose of studying
various art galleries abroad. On her
return, one of the Women's clubs asked
her TO read a paper on the art of some
great painter. She had never written
anything Of the kind in her life, but
she heard of a gentleman who would
write such a paper for her for a GER
tain sum- The paper was thus pre-
pared, and when il was read to the
club, the supposed author was Iavished
with praise and more papers were de-
manded- The same gentleman wrote
these for her, and ii was not long be-
fore the Iady's remarkable literary abiI-
ity was the subject OF common talk
The long novel was her next venture,
by unknown proxy, and this volume
will shortly be published. Doubtless
her friends and acquaintance will
compliment the supposed author on her
style and execution, and she will begin
to be known outside of her own city
as a writer of some ability.
It is difiicultfto understand how this
woman harmonizes this sort of thing
with an otherwise well-regulated and
proper life. If the hack had been en-
gagged as collaboration or assistant or
editor of her work, then she could have
mad the feeling that practically every
thlng good In The book was hers, but
this fiattering JUNCTION cannot be hers.
There is, in fact, too much uneven
ness in the distribution of credit for
literary merits. A great many maya
zine articles which bear the names of
well known people are so revised and
edited before publication that a disin-
terested person would have difficulty in
recognizing the originals. And it is a
curious fact that the authors invaria-
bly, accept the improved matter as en-
tirely their own.
Not long ago a magazine editor Sc
cured the promise of an article from an
admiral in the United States navy. A
stenographer was engaged to take
down the naval officers dictation and
some thousands of words of rambling
conversation were thus recorded. The
matter was written out and read aloud
by the editor.
Did I write all of that rot?" asked
the naval officer. THAT win never do.
l guess we had better give it up
But that was not the editors dispo-
sitiOn. He patiently talked over the
whole matter again and then. in an
informal and unsupported way, he drew
out OF the officer more good stories
bearing on the article than could well
be included. The editor went back to
his hotel and wrote. Then he took the
original draft of the first conversation,
threw most of it away and wove his
own story to the rest. When he read
the completed manuscript to the naval
officer, the latter was delighted.
That's finei That's finei" he ex-
claimed. ''Well, Pm not so bad as a
writer after all. 1 think that's a pretty
good piece of work for me. don't your
JACK London, whose fame was made
by his stories Of the northwest and the
Klondike, has just sailed for Europe
In search OF rest and recreation. Mr..
London does not need new material,
because his life, though short in years,
has been full of the stern experiences
of which he writes SO well. He is in
deed the Kfplfng OF the northwest, that
great land of the rainbow's end, where
realism is so romantic and romance
so real Not long since Mr.. London
completed his first novel, a story of
the Alaskan gold fields, and this, to-
gether with a volume of short stories,
will be published this fall.
A $4,000 set of Dickens is a unique
collection of books which has recently
been brought to this country from Eu-
rope There are over ninety volumes
In the set, and each is a first edition
book Not only should this fact inter
est the book lover, but to know that
an autograph letter of the authors
accompanies each volume should make
him wildly envious of the posseSsor OF
the set Most of the letters are notes
OF presentation to various friends OF
Dickens and the labor of collecting
them must have been a long and pa
tient one
The American invasion of Europe
and the resulting tendency of Euro
peans TO dislike the American invaders
has resurrected the following story
An American woman of wealth once
called upon Ouida in Florence
Say that I am an American and am
very anxious to meet her" she said to
the maid who took her card.