The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-10

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made the pore interesting by the manner
of presentation-the absence of supertluous
statement, the general sense OF proportion
and the instant comprehension of the essen
tial elements of his theme. Mr.. Nicholson
is also well known as a writer of admirable
verse. much of which has found place in
leading magazines. His training and lit
erary qualities, therefore, lead to the ex-
pectation that his novel will be of unusual
merit, this belief having the further basis
that large number of the successes in
recent fiction have been achieved by news
paper men, The objection is sometimes
raised to their novels that they are devoid
the true charm to fiction, but on the con-
trary are merely extended pieces of report
ing that, however skillful in themselves,
have something of the baroness Of the news
paper report and lack the one touch Of the
artist that makes them literature.
This complaint has undoubtedly some ba-
sis. Frank Norris, author of "The Octopus"
and ''The Pit" large though his ideas were,
did not escape the reportorial style. The
same is true to some extent of Irving Bach
eller, Of Edward w. Townsend, Of David
Graham Phillips. and others who might be
named. 1t is not true Of the late Harold
Frederic. whose novels, especially the ear
lier ones. dealing with strictly American
themes. show him to have been a man Of
high imaginative ability and a power that
belongs to the born" writer of fiction.
These earlier novels Of Frederic's, by the
way. never shared the popularity Of his
later ones, though in many respects they
are superior. The vividness Of their por-
trayals of certain phases of American life
has not been excelled. To take case near
er at hand, Frederic s. Isham, newspaper
man, in his recent book, Under the Rose"
has produced a tale which has a poetic
charm and an atmosphere which belongs to
the fifteenth century instead of the twenti-
ethan achievement beyond the powers Of
most writer's of historical fiction, even
though they have all possible university
training, and have not-as authors Of the
lowered their standard by writing for
the press.
Looking over the field of fiction as 1T now
Is. the novelists who are graduates from the
newspaper school are in the majority and
have the most promising outlook. The rea-
son is easy to see. They have mingled with
men, their acquaintance with the world is
practical, they have acquired command
Of nervous, idiomatic English and an ability
to select and deal only with essentials. If.
their equipment is all that could be wished.
On the other hand, the novel written by the
professor, the university man who seldom
gets far away from his books, is likely to
fail because he does not know the world as
it is, and cannot. therefore, depict it; and
because he is often such purist that in
his revision and cancellations and precision
in the choice Of words he succeeds in de-
stroying all the life that might otherwise
be in the pages. The best and greatest
works of fiction are by no means free from
ineleganoies of diction, awkward phraseol-
ogy. even errors Of grammar. Modern pro-
fessional WORD sharps' would tear Scott
and Thackeray and Dickens to fragments
if tales by those authors were submitted to
them for review. Tolstoy. it is said. pro-
duces copy in his native language that is
by no means free from error. After all, the
story is the important thing, and the author
work is not the one who wins an audience.