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


seatson, himself a writer of fiction. He
somes to the conclusion that the year
ms been somewhat barren and I'M
syaiing. The year 1902" he SAYS.
ahas marked time and no more" The
;bdrment is fair enough. 1t is Quite
ttue that no new novel has appeared
sIth the mark Of immortality upon it
hit there is no reason why this should
make any one unhappy, says the New
fotk Tribune. In the first place. It is
Sejl to remember that year is a very
hort period Of time. We may receive
Il 1908 what we have missed in 1902
ii the mean time. as Mr.. Watson HIM
4 r confesses. ''the astonishing feature
i he excellence OF the average book. !.
lis not merely astonishing, it is
said comfort After all, il we are
timporarily without great work OF
ranius, it is enormously consoling to
SSSe such books as those recently
uublished by John Oliver Hobbies" A.
4 ". Mason. Joseph Conrad, owen
Tister. H. G. Wells and several Others.
Il Il more than consoling, it is posi-
tisely celebrating. The trouble with
he average" novelist used to be that
Il wrote nothing but trash. Surely
much has been gained when he gives us
rtally good and sometimes brilliant il
hi immortal work. Let us not under
yAiue the first rate average novel, now
Hat we have got it. 1t may not be a
thing to treasure as we treasure Els
uond" or "Pickwick," "Pere Goriot" or
ties Trois Mousquetaires," 1.-THE Scar
htIetter,'' or the works of Bret Harte.
Butit is thing to enjoy in the pres
ent, and it is not at all unlikely that
sbne of this average" work, though it
may not endure forever, will be en-
ioyed for good many years to come.
Apropos of this question of the
durability of recent fiction, or, for that
natter. of any form of literature, the
eiter of Punch" has casually thrown
alittle useful light upon the subject in
hh reply to question as to what two
usw books pleased and interested him
most in 1902. He confesses his inability
to single out any two publications.
All that have come across and read"
he adds. "have pleased and interested
nthey didn't I'd drop them at the
twentieth page" Mr.. Burnand here
puts his finger upon the critical point
The book that is not interesting is lost,
whether it be a novel or work of
scholarship. We can, in our minds
eye, see the arms of a hundred writer's
passionately uplifted at the mOnstrous
absurdity Of this remark. We can hear
their scornful gibes at the merely in
teresting writer, who, in their opinion,
is either the frivolous compiler of a
series of romantic adventures in the
style of the egregious Dumas, or the
degraded "popularizer" of literature
and learning in superficial manuals.
They themselves would, of course, have
no parleyings with mere human ma
ture. Masterpieces of philosophical
realism are what they mean to produce,
Of scientific" works of scholarship.
Well. they have their readers, among
them the conscientious reviewers, who
beat their way through these dreary
Writings and praise them when they
can. But the world moves, and it is no
hziness. 1t is no love of frivOlity, which
/ has slowly but steadily put the reading
public on the side of the author who
ipNO8HlZeS Tue lIllpOI ldHCc VI OCiii6 III
teresting.-New York Tribune.
From an entertaining sketch of the
author of 1.-THE Virginian," published
In THE Saturday Evening Post" of
Philadelphia, we learn that Mr.. Wister
contemplating the production of an
other novel of the Far West. "But
first" he said, Il shall write a story
round England superstition.
Would you believe that within sound of
the whistle Of the New York, New
Haven and Hartford locomotives there
are people, many people, who believe
in vampres?'
Not really vampires-persons in hu-
man form who suck the blood of their
fellow beings?"
t"fes, the real, old fashioned, Arabi-
an Nights vampires. 1 think it should
make an interesting novel,"
And then you will write the West
ern story?'
Yes-of a somewhat earlier day than
The Virginian. 1t will he broader
story. too-taking in the whole of
pioneer l!fe--Indians, hunters. first
settlers, cowboys, desperadoes and all"
AS for his admirable hero, the Vir-
sinian, Mr.. Wister says: HE wasn't
anybody in particular. He was a de-
velopment from the life out there as l
@w It, He has characteristics of half
.. dozen men-nothing from any one
oennlte enough to be identifiable. I'm
settlng many letters from acquaint-
ahces, saying. Didn't you mean So
snd-so?' or Wasn't he the man who
vas foreman of this ranch or that In a
certain year?'"
Fne late Mr. Henty short time be-
lore he died stated that he always got
wnsiderably more letters from girls
speut his books than from boys
Mpugh all the books were written for
Joys Interested in this fact, the vet
ran made up his mind to consider girls
msconnection with future stories, APP
Meciating, moreover, the Duchess Of
Sutherland's point of view: why
snould courage, resource and fair play
held mp for the admiration of the
male sex alone?"
The first nofel in the January list of
%e Lothrop Publishing Company is
SSsorge Cary tEggleston's romance OF
s%uthern lifd ''Ths Master OF War
"ek" The same house will also
w vuolsh Francis Churchill Williams