The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-04-09
MUCH GOOD FICTION NOW
". ID. HOH ELLSS TITW OF THE
IITFRlRI o. TLOOk.


victorian writers ~ MANY seed
Artists New - Ever Remark ahlr
BOoks written 10, NmeriraR NuahsrS.
After having b.en a witness oT q large
rATt 81 the evolution IT the fiction of this
country William Dean How ellis il de
cidedly optimistic A. regards both tho
present situation and the o,Itlonk Tor the
future he has M Use for comparisons
with -o-called golden periods gone by
and the writers IN such
i am a hereto about the Victorian
writer's, he -ays. and thsir superiority
OF course there are infinitely more bad
novels now than ever hrfor~ hat that ~
because there ar" more novels; the num-
Der OF good ones ~ ~ great a. ever. Writ
ing novels la general IL nov a trade 10
has ceased to he an art
But there are many artists good
artists In England Their" ~ Phillpotts
and Arnold Bennett and Percy Point and
even the cock ncy novelist who wrote the
Splendid Brother. Bstt Ridge They
are good writers ~ we'll
In this country Ne have Hserick
Brand WhitlOck. Who has ~ ritten two re-
naarkablc American hooks; some Chicago
men including Henry y. Fuller, who -
Of the frs; class. William Allen White.
who has " ritten an able book. a good and
true book though I have not yet read IL
ALL adds the novelist and critic some
what naively The Southrrncr' IL a
good novel also.
Readers are beginning a. demand
really good novels. and u ~ the derpised
big seller which has educated the rrader
al - L.
read
The writers are writing better though
the great mass oI work - that ~ begin
ners Fifteen or twenty years ago when
I vas editor 81 tho Atlantic Mna'hIy ! al
ways had my eye ont for good short
stories. but ! 49, more good ones In the
magazines now Now the writers seem
10 have the knack to understand. and most
Of the noveli-ts have written a lot of short
storiea before they attempt the novel
i read constantly. A. have read con-
stantly. and ! am not at all discouraged
by the period. even though II - one Of
great hux We are too prone To he i'm
posed on by the big names those 10
Dickens, Thackeray. Relde and Collins
are dead and no one reads thsm now
Dickens il sold and 10 read. but not ~
the critical public
And the fad for George Meredith I
do not think win continue; IL il founded
not on love for him hut on critical re-o-
luton He was a greater writer, hut
not a great artist and the novelist ex-
planned the difference between skill IN
the handling Il words and skill in the
recreation of life
i Judge from not being able To- read |
him. he said with a twinkle in has eye |
Whiting hools - a business. AWAY. /
has been business. though the writers I
are never rich ren- he interpolats,i
They do not enter the business a. a trade !
Once ~ was largely speculation. The 1
writer writes because be- likes u love-
HE art And -Iy We have artists to-day
Eden PhilpntJ-'s '---- e Virtue and
Arnold Beanstt's Old Wives Tales
the other the Black country Leonard
MERCK il another able Englishman
Among our authors there - no usa
trying 20 discount the work Of Mary
Wilkins Freeman Even her novels are
great. and her stories ara prndigiuuE
She II a wonderful littla woman
Then there ~ Edith WYATT. th.. Chicago
girl whose sketches 10 Chicago life are
great matchles-: there are non. other
like them
i respect the work 81 Harlem very
much; his Georgia stories There are
70 many good writer's and good artists
IL 10 a promising per! d concltlde~i the
author-critic warmly