The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-01
in THE LITERARY FIELD
AMERICAN BOOKS ARE WRITTEN
WITH TOO MUCH HASTE.
The Modern Form of Literary Fame
A Glimpse of Swinburne-Day of
the Amateur.

America aspires to create a great liter
aturc. but she will never do so until her
literary men have higher ideals than most
of them seem thus far to have set up for
themselves. says a writer in the Kansas
City Journal Thousands upon thousands of
books are produced in the country every
year. but few of them are literature. Some
Of them are storehouses of facts. No peo-
pie, except the Germans, are more indus
trious, persistent and successful investiga-
tors than we are. For example, no history
ever printed contains more information,
page for page, regarding its subject than
does Professor McMaster's History of the
People of the United States" But, as
Button said in his address on his admission
to the French Academy. and as he exemph-
fed in his great works: "Well-written books
are the only ones that will go down to pos
terity. Quantity of knowledge. singularity
of facts, even novelties in discoveries, are
not certain guarantees of Immortality;
knowledge, facts discoveries are easily abb
stracted and transferred. These things are
outside the man; the style is the man; the
style. then, cannot be distracted, trans
ferred, tempered with; if it be elevated.
noble, sublime, the author will be equally
admired at all times. for ii is only truth
that is durable and even eternal"
The main cause Of the inferiority of most
American books evidently is the haste with
which they are written. The facility with
which we work has made us the first ma
ton in the world financially and indus
trially. But facility in writing is almost
invariably fatal TO good style. DIR. John
sons Rambler" Addison's contributions to
the Taller, Spectator and Guardian, and
Hamiltons "Federalist' were written with
considerable rapidity; but they are among
the very few works that were so written
which rank as literature. When Racine was
young man he remarked to Boleau that
he was sometimes astonished at himself
because of the ease with which he wrote.
II want to teach you to write hard" an
swered the great critic. THE result says
Guizot, 'of this singular instruction was
'Andromaque' the first of Racine's writ
ings in which his great genius fully mani
Tested itself. and one of the immoral works
of French literature. The lesson that Boz
leau taught Racine is the lesson that many
American writers need TO learn. They write
too easily. Good writing is not done easily.
They need to learn to write hard" They
need TO learn that, as Mr.. Mabie has so well
said, the crude material of thought, emo
ton and experience is no more literature
than the uncut marble is sculpture We
have, and always have had. enough literary
labOring men TO dig and haul our intellectual
and scientific marble from its native quar-
ries. We have also had few artists. like
Hawthorne and Poe and Washington Irving,
who knew how TO chsel II into that final
stage which We call beauty" We shall not
have another generation of great literary
artists until we have another generation of
writers who are willing TO toll until they
have Transmitted their thoughts and ideas
into art instead of sending them into the
world fragmentary, unpublished or misshapen
children of the brain born before their
time.