The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-17
TREND OF THOUGHT
 ALONG PATHS LITERARY

Z
 That there is vacillation in the purpose of most alter day novels is pretty gem orally acknowledged He "does not stick to the point" is criticism so frequently made, that we no longer feel surprised when we hear it. A proposition. some times daringly ultras IS presented to the reader of novel: he gfasps the idea and prepares himself for the development, and feels chagrin as he gradually realizes that the author weakens As he hears his cli- max, and fails tp preserve the force with which he started out, and So reaches his conclusion in aicommonplace and conven- tional fashion, He is not consistent to the very finale. The fear of unpopular ity for a book has caused many a writer to round up This work in a manner to please the mass of readers. Americans especially are esteemed as being pecu- liarly lacking in individuality and strength of purpose. -iany titles arrest our attention, as promising much, but the problems are disappointing in the per- formance. The author that would win confidence and admiration from his reader must assure him of his convictions from start to finish. We recall an cid English novel, '"ren Thousand a Year." which was said to have been read by more lawyers than any other book be- cause of fine legal points made patent, by the authors fine disquisitions. and fidelity to the purpose. of his work:
 Clearer Expressio
 People are impatient of an incoherent idea and demand an apparent reality in books. We have good, bad and indifferent fiction served up to us, to surfefting-and we believe that much of it's imperfection is due to haste. We are told that MT. l A1 r~lr to the publishers a novel upon which he has been at work for twenty years. ThinA of it-in this day of rapid achieve menti But the critics who have had glimpses of the manuscript, say that we are to be rewarded for this long wait up- on Mir. Browns painstaking genius, by the presentation of a work that shall do credit to his name and that of his coun- try. We are in eager anticipation of a truly great work of fiction from a South ern writer. It will come for the spirit of literature is abroad in the land. Profes- sor Weiner of Harvard University has given us a surprising comparison of Russian literature in the earlier produc- tions, and those of the century just past Tn a religious point of view the productions of the Russian mind of the earlier period are singularly interesting but Professor WeineF in his wonderful translations, gives us a surprising p;c- ture of literary advance in the last hun dred years; betraying a wealth of color in poetry especially. 'r'
 A Foreign Opinion,
 A prejudiced foreigner has remarked that the American novel has become as mongrel In nature as the American him self-and then added, What have just said is perhaps the worst that can say about the American novel," It Is true that there has been much aping of foreign writers, and a great deal of running around after characters Also the scenes selected have been in many instances from foreign lands. Antiquity, as well as foreigners, has furnished inviting fields, both for our later day writers; and per- haps 1t is the non-comprehension of the subjects deal with that has given war rant for the very harsh criticism of trash, trash.'' to so much American work. Enpassant, we would say. we hope for a return to the serious, natural plots and stories, that came to our libra ries thirty years ago. But we are sorry to remark that there has been something else beside lack of individuality the