The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-07

the great galaxy of New England lite rary notables having passed away, a new order of things has ensued, and that the most conspicuous writers of fiction are either of Southern or Eastern birth. Mrs. Burton Harrison, William D. How els, G. W. Cable and many others were either from the South or the East. Fic- tion has found. more than ever. within late years. many Southern opponents; and only Southern writers have understood, and can illuminate the conditions of the section in a heartfelt and sincere way. YIt is obvious that the sharp criticism of Bradys "The Southerners." is wholly due to its author not having been of "the { manor born"-Mr Brady was kindly in- EAtentioned, but 10 southerner will ever read his book without a feeling of mis- representation simply because the writer did not understand the heart of the Southerner or his circumstances. And this is but just criticism of all North ern authors who have chosen Southern themes. They seem to have forgotten that the essential quality of success" ''is for the author fo be thoroughly saturated : with the life and atmosphere of his chos- en locale" The romantic possibilities of this section are apparent to those in @aarch of tmaterial,' but the beauty of the simplicity of our conditions is lost upon thetsnovelist with the sensational r most attaract an audience to him is by himself auneomprehended The true to nature" in the South is so unaffected that any effort for effect mars the picture
 One of the very finest examples of sin cerity in fiction is "The Legatee." Mrs. Smith. the author, was carried to the lumber village when she was Il years old, and so she may be considered a Western novelist She grew up with a wise un- derstanding of the conditions surround ing her. and has produced work very modern, and with sincere delineation very unusual in the last few years. The intensity-in feeling. the rapidity of nara tion, the richness of incident and the fine dialogue make this novelist's work con sistent with her environment, and this goes far towards making any work of fiction work of art.
 Mary Washington Early has made a fine summary of Southern writers in her work on Southern Novelsts." She finds that John Pendleton Kennedy. born in Balti- more in 1795. was the first Southern novel ist of prominence; she says that He sketched Southern life very much as Washington Irving has done that of New York; showing such delightful touches of humor and geniality as have led him to be compared to and classed with the au- thor of The Sketch Book Horse Shoe
 
 ular of his tales, was written in 1885. Mrs. Terhune wrote Judith" some time before the Civil War. and her work of that time is considered valuable as a pie ture of Old Virginia life and character her stories are valuable as "side-lights on history"
 Mrs. southworth. Mrs Hentz, Mrs Ev- ans received hearty greeting from the public in those old days and of Mrs. Southworth it was remarked that she won substantial emoluments from her pen while Edgar A. Poe was in danger of starving. and whilst Vanity Fair" was being rejected by editor after editor.
 Mrs. Evans published "Beulah'' in 1859, and it ran through fifteen editions in a few months.
 William Gilmore Simmes and John Esten Cooke were conspicuous South ern writers in the middle times between the old days and the new. Of Simms Poe said, He has more vigor. more imagination. more move ment and more general capacity than all our novelsts combined" He was also alluded to as the Walter Scott of s. c. Both have done for their native lands the same thing have traced up the stream of history to its source, and from the terra a-incognita Of legend and tradition. have given us pictures of life fin striking and fascinating colors. Both have swept aust ana Rf1me rom the COD-WeDDeO canvas of history with the brush of fic- tion. and made its dim features salient and attractive" It Is gratification to remark on such writers of fiction of the "old Southland reflect that this was but small element of our representation in literature We are told that William Gilmore Simms's literary fecundity' was wonderful. This reminds us of Col Hers article on The Ways of Authors" :"
 Literary production is a thing so va ried al exemplifed by the output of dis tinguishSd authors, that it is impossible to arrive at any general rules governing it. Apart from the quality of literary work. the bulk and rapdity of its crea- ton seem, indeed to differ with almost every individual scribe. There are, for in stance. Dumas. the elder. and Lewis Car roll The name of the first appears on over six thousand volumes-many pub lished with the assistance of collaborators or even untouched by their reputed au- thor Still his fertility was enormous. Of Carroll. on the other hand, one knows only that he wrote two small books en- titled Alice in Wonderland "and "Through the Looking Glass" As to con- trastng rates of speed, take the cases of two living writers. both Americans, Henry James and Marion Crawford. Mir Crawford writes like lightning. He can turn out his five thousand words or more per day without f1tnching, and without prejudice to an agreeable, smoothly flow ing, correct style. Henry James, immense iy precise and scrupulous, is satisfied if he does one page, at his best in day. The method of De Maupassant who died when he was 40. fwas similar. He tor tured himself remorselessly to get the right phrase, and even the right word and rewrote one of his best stories six times A British author of our own day, who has not been before the public very long, seems to be sort of De Maupassant as regards carefulness. This Is Maurice Hewlett who wrote his Forest Lovers" four times before he would intrust 1t to the printers. As a direct opposite, let us mention the French poet, De Fanville 'He composed a lengthy lyrical poem while being shaved. "-(Collier's Weekly)
 This month of May may be said to have been given over to Emerson, in the lite rary world. Books and papers have writ ten of every phase of his life and work Thomas Wentworth Higginson has a tru- ly interesting article on The Personal ity of Emerson" in The Outlook. Of three things in this review we make note ''We see in him seeming want of all very intimate personal relation with men and women" His own expression was Every man is an infinitely repellant orb and holds his individual being on that condition. Most of the persons