Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-01-17
The Year in Literature.

that never before has the literary market
peen SO overcrowded with books, and year
aIter year that statement is true. AS year
Deiore last exceeded the previous year,
ana as last year surpassed the preceding
twelve months, so do the books of the
year 1902 which comes to a close today,
Tar exceed in number those of any Similar
epoch. Upon the general quality of the
output we need pass no Judgment at the
present moment, although with an annual
record OF several thousand volumes in
view, 1t is needless to say that the vast
majority of them are utterly unworthy
OF public attention. Every branch of lit
erature has been fully covered, from
novels and romances of varying worth,
through poetry and plays, history and BIZ
ography, travel and adventure, down to
those nondescript works whose only rea-
son for existence is the vanity of deluded
ambition and the ability of their writer's
to furnish the necessary pecuniary where
withal to put them through the press
Perhaps the best tributes we can pay to
literature is to survey first of all those
works which arise solely from their writ
erS' imaginative and creative ability-the
novels and the rOmanceS-although the
writing of fiction has been so sadly over
done IN late years that that class of liter
allure has been degraded to a lower level
than is it's right to occupy. Fiction of all
sorts has been reviewed at greater or less
length in these columns during the past
year, and it is therefore only necessary
to set down few of the works which for
one reason or another seem worthy of
note among the great mass of their fell
lows. Except in the case of the first
book mentioned-decidedly the most note
worthy of them all-and the next eight or
ten following, the order in which they are
listed signifies nothing.
The Valley of Decision. Edith Wharton
The Lady Paramount. Henry Harland
The Little White Bird. M. Barrie
The Wings of the Dove. Henry James
The River. Eden Philpotts
The -Four Feathers. A. E. W. Mason
The Hole in the Wall =. Arthur Morrison
The Fortunes of Oliver Horn
F. Hopkinson Smith
The battle-ground. ........... Ellen Glasgow
The Conqueror. ....Gertrude Anterior
Audroy: 80: .................. Mary johnston
The Colon1als Allen French
Visions. ........................M Miles Amber
Kate Bonnet. Frank K. Stockton
John Gaythers Garden Frank r. Stockton
Captain of the Grey Horse Troop
Hamlin Garland
Temporal Power. ........ 800. Marie Corelli
~ '''' NV John oliver Hobbies
A Sea Turn. ...... Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Captain Macklin Richard H. Davis
The Two Vanrevels. =. Booth Harrington
A Daughter of the Shows. Jack London
Donovan Pasha. ...........G Gilbert Parker
Confessions of Wife. Mary. Adams
The Conquest of Rome. Matilde Serao
Our Lady of the Beeches
Baroness Won Hutton
Aliens. .Mary\T. Wright
The Leopard's Spots. Thomas Dixon, Jr.
The Climax. Charles F. Pidgin
The Strolers. Frederic lsham
The Whirlwind. ............i fuPert rd;gnes
The Maid at Arms: ....... X. w. Champers
The Pharaoh and the Priest. A. dl9y ,atbsr
The Henchman. ......;.... m. Il. Lutner
~ Conan Doyle
The Kentons. D. Howells
Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall ,,.,.
az Mary Hallock Foota
The Courage of Conviction. R. Sullivan
The Virginian ...:;...;,....;GO owen WIsrer
The Blazed Trail. ..... Stewart E. White
Ottilie A. Liljencrantz
Danny. ..............Aiireu CiiiT an an
Cecilia. .............F Marion Crawford
Intrusions of Peggy. Anthony Hope
The foregoing list is of course, not comz
plete, but it serves to show the range ana
variety of authorship tha ebe 'r rema ps
writer's still cling to history Ior tneIi
themes, but it is also apparent that our,
ing the past year they have modera ,'ts
their enthusiasm for that class OF SUP
iects. it is to be hoped for good and al:
Among historical and biographlcal
hooks there have been issued no distinct
Nv great works. although the list lnciudes
| a humber of authoritative and valuable
volumes. In literary history, the Eng
lish Men of Letters ana the Ame e.;ia
Men of Letters series have been revived )
the former includes George Eliot, Mat
thew Arnold William Hazlitt, John Rus.
kin. Samuel Richardson, John GreenleaI
Whittier and Alfred Tennyson; ana the
latter PROFESSOR Woodberry's life OF Raw
thorne and Thomas Wentworth Hlsglh-
sons Life of Longfellow In the Beacon
Biographies the single issue OF the year
has been John Burroughs ne VI ~ hus
dubon. Forster's Life OF DickeHs ma
been rewritten and revised by Georse
Gissing in a one-volume edition., James
Drummond's Life and Letters OF James
Martineau has come out in two volumes
and Iohn Bach McMaster has pursued MS
hiStoricaI studies with a brief biography
of Daniel Webster. Bishop Lawrence
life of Roger Wolcott mas natuIaily
proved itself a work of paramount iocai
and contemporary interest," IN ms MAJ
stol as Man and Artist DmltIl NJ
ikowski has given a striking ana onisin q
view Of the great author; Arthur r.
Ia y,;dson and Harry A. Spur have Dotn
brought out extended accounts OF the ~
and work of the elder Dumas Annie nus
saII Marble has offered some new material
IN "Thoreau: His Home Frlenos ano
Books" in "Charles Eliot L.anoscap pc
Architect" a distinguished latnes kays
tribute to the memory OF a taleneeS S,. son,
and other volumes when may De autohi,
nentioned are Walter Besants AuI0 9.3i
al.rs,,bw sir Wemyss Reds life OF WIZ
10 =, Hack. and Collingwood.s NE %
pmslx;n' Napoleana has received p nnree
Notwithstanding from John HOLLAND rose
~ a..s., r watson and Charles Josseis H..