The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-01-11

Il
| osal to establish schools of fiction, af-
| er the fashion of schools Of art Let
| the masters take pupils and teach them
| the elements of novel writing, he sug-
| gests.
l What sort of pictures" writes this au-
| thor, would a man turn out who, hav-
| ing provided himself with box of colors,
| an easel and canvas, sat down to paint
| with no more knowledge of his craft
| than can be gained from looking at art
| exhibitions and reading the opinions OF
l few critics? But that is the task a
| young writer must set for himself. He
| has a dictionary, a desk and a pad of
| paper, and he can go to a library and
| look at books, or to be more exact con-
| suit them; but suppose Mr.. Howells
| should really take the time to instruct
| him, would he not learn in a year-what
otherwise he might not in lifetime
| the principles of his art, the technique
| Drawing, perspective, composition, color,
light and shade, all the elements of the
painters craft can be taught Precisely
| the same elements enter into novel-writ-
ing, the difference being that the painter
touches the heart through the eye and
the novelist through the mind. 1t may
be said that writer's are born, not made.
So are painters. But how many master
painters of today would be painting even
tolerably we'll if they had been turned
loose in a picture gallery with can
vass and box of colors?
INSTRUCTION in fiction writing would i'm
prove the mediocre and perfect the good;
it would not, of course, make the hope
lessly bad even mediocre. l know of but
one example of my theory, and fairly
good example it is. Guy de Maupassant
was taught to write by Gustave Flau-
bert. For years he was not permitted to
publish, and his crude efforts were torn
up time and again, but finally he sprang
full armed upon the world. Flaubert
used to talk to him somewhat like this:
You see that cab horse across the street;
there is just one word in the French Ian
guage to describe his attitude. Find it.
If we young writers who are cropping
away in the darkness of our own ignor-
ance could only go to Flaubert and
have our manuscripts torn up, If we could
! only be made to find the one word, there
would be fewer books in the world. but
I believe there would be more masters
of technique like Guy de Maupassaut."
1.-THE Last Word,' by Alice MACEDONIAN,
story of the experiences of Texas girl
in New York, is so largely Autobiography
ical that a reading of the story is we'll
worth while because the author and the
heroine will be found to be an interesting
person. Miss MACEDONIAN came to New
York about twelve years ago and took
up newspaper work on one of the large
pie outside with whom she came in con-
tact liked her cheerful, breezy manner.
She was optimistic and confident, and
had way of making others believe in
her. For some time she wrote special
articles for literary bureau One series
of these articles called "a Texas Girl
in New York. with the addition of a
love story formed the basis of "The
Last Word published only last fall.
"The fourteen years which have elaps-
ed since Matthew Arnold's death" writes
Mr. Herbert Paul in the English Men
of Letters Series" have added greatly
to- the member of his readers, especially
the readers of his poems. No poet of
modern times, perhaps no English poet
of any time, appeals so directly and so
exclusively to the cultivated taste of the
educated classes. To say that classi-
cal education was necessary for under
standing him would perhaps be to go too
far. But a capacity for approaching form
and style, and charm of rhythm and the
beauty of words, is undoubtedly essential.
1t may be said of Mr.. Arnold with truth.
and it is his chief praise, that the more
widely mental culture spreads, the high
er his fame will be. He was not, in
deed, a profound thinker. He did not
illuminate like Wordsworth, with a sim
gle flash. the abysses of mans nature, and
the Utmost recesses of the human SOUL
He was not, as Plato was, a spectator OF
all time and all existence. His arm was,
as he said of Sophocies, to see life stead
ily and see it whole. But he saw it as
a scholar and a man of letters. He in
terpreted greater minds than his own.
He almost fulfilled his ideal. He knew,
SO far at least as the Western world
is concerned, the best that had been said
and thought in all ages. Next to Milton,
he was the most learned of English poets.
E. w. Townsend, of Chimmie Fadden
fame, has just completed novel of
Western and New York life, which will
be published in book form early next
month. The story is quite different from
anything which Mr.. Townsend has done
heretofore, involving set of people who
win out in the struggle for wealth in the
West and come to New York to live. The
financial success of the principal Western
character is clouded by an injustice to the
family of an old friend, so that the play
of conflicting emotions throughout the
course of the story makes worthy SUBJ
ject of treatment in the study of char
acter. Those who have read the entire
manuscript say that the picture of life
in New York city is unusually good. This
judgment is just what one would expect
from Mr.. Townsend. The novel ought to
have a considerable sale.