New-York tribune., 1905-07-09
gDe Nsm'Dorls 9rIbar,ulses
SUNDAY, JULY 9, 1905.

In an editorial on the relation of literature to
Hle' Inc DlaI' aliudes to the difficulty which
many people, "yOung people in particular"
have IN understanding why it Is that men
make such fuss about literature" Time
alone, we are told, can clear up this difficulty
for time brings experience, and the more ex-
perience men get, the nearer they approach in
their sympathies to the great writers, whose
greatness is based in large measure upon the
richness of the experience that has come to
them with their rpened years. 'The Dial"
Ihlnks that some young people are bewildered
in this matter because they are started in the
wrong fashion Literature is forced upon
them before they are susceptible to its appeal
and remains ever afterward associated in
their minds with the disagreed BILE tasks of the
school room" There is something reasonable
about these remarks, yet, In the long run. thew
throw us back upon the question as to whether
instinct is not after all, the one determining
factor in the attitude of every human creature
toward literature. Nobody could question the
Importance of educational processes nobody
could impeach the value of experience yet 1t
Is odds that the boy who begins I'm state of
mlnd lmperVious to the appeal of the great
authors, viii end as n man Of much the same
msensitiyeneSs. Experience is everything to
the born reader of books, steadily increasing
his faculty of appreciation, but 1t will do moth
ing for the person who IS born with his senses
sealed where books are concerned and the
number OF such types is far larger, we fear,
than. in this optimistic age 1t is customary to
admit
Lord Rosebery, delivering an address the
other day, before gathering of booksellers at
Edinburgh, was fain to protest that criticism
passed upon authors by their contemporaries
Gid not possess much value. He argued that
until a century or SO had elapsed it was abso-
lutely impossible to say whether given book
was literature or not Criticism we dare saw
Will nevertheless continue to get itself written
not because the critics have the ''bloOdthirsty
clinging to life'' Of Matthew ArnoIds portIy
5eweier from Cheapside but because the use
fulness of criticism lies upon the surface for
all men to see. An immense quantity of con-
temporary writing undoubtedly passes for criti-
clSm which is not in the least critical. and we
may further admit that again and again the
united efforts of the best critics have been
powerless to keep certain mediocre authors
from achieving wide popularity. But one has
only TO consult the records to see that criti-
cism has actually accomplished a vast amount
of good In police work especially it has been
and still is extraordinarily effectual The per
Sistence of this that vulgar novelist in the
face of lncessant critical reprobaton need not
blind us to the fact that the waters of taste
are kept surprisingly clear Unfair criticism
cannot hurt good book, but fair criticism can
Kill, and, we rejoice TO say, does kill, many bad
one. For this reason, If for other, Lord Rose
berry might well revise his opinion of the critics
There is one phase of this question OF con-
temporary criticism which Is too often i'm
perfectly understood. We refer to the point
Of seriousness" which is sometimes raised by
disgruntled authors. The critic takes up a
book of a certain character, and dismisses it In
4 paragraph or two, amiably or severely as
the case may be- To his astonishment he is
promptly reproached for not having treated
the work with Seriousness" Pray why should
be discourse at length upon a book of no i'm
portance whatever? Why should he write
about some novel of the moment as though he
were reviewing new Gibbon? 1t may be
very clever novel. but this does not mean that
it is necessarily topic for profound analysis.
Tie fact is that modern authors have been
spoiled, and nothing has done more to spoil
them than the sort of talk in which Lord Rose
berry appears to have INDUCED. 1t does not fol-
low that because a man has written a book.
even fairly good book he Is entitled to the
elaborate consideration which is given, as
matter OF course to all works above certain
rank. His merits and demerits are perceptible
at glance and can easily be stated In few