New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-07

Z
The Macmillan Company
MASTERS OF THE ENGLISH NOVEL.
A Study Of Principles end PERSONAL
ties BY Richard Burton. l2mo. PIP
TX. S57. Henry Holt & GO.
LEADING AMERICAN NovELIsTs. BY
John Erskine Phi. D. With Six PoT-
traits. 72no, PIP. viii, SIS. Henry Holt
Henry seidel Candy, Phi; d 12no. PIP.
xiii. $50. Henry Holt CO.
woMAN's WORK IN ENGLISH FIG
TON. BY Clara H Whitmore, a NJ
Emo. PIP. VII, 800. G. P. Putnam s Sons.
The world and his wife are inveterate
novel readers. and an extraordinary num-
Der Of the writer's Of books are incessant-
fy occupied In supplying their wants
Inevitably the labors Of the story tellers
have been supplemented by those Of the
critics and historians Of fiction and the
latter have by this time put respectable
literature 20 their credit. In the handful
OF books before us. in other words, We
recognize just so many more contrlou-
lions to a familiar discussion. What Is
6ctionp Who are the best masters of 1t?
Fow is il most profitably to be ap-
preached? These questions, and others
like them, are always to the fore. We
wonder. sometimes, how far the answers
supplied to them are practically SER
viceable The average man holds much
the same attitude toward novels that he
holds toward pictures. He nlodestly dis
claims any pretensions to critical au-
thority. but he is quite tenacious on the
point that he knows what he likes
obviously. the best way Of getting him to
like the right thing is to put ii in his
hands. but as this is a purely personal
transaction there is, as obviously, d place
tn the literary economy for books that
aim TO set him in the true path. How
shall they be framed? The formal his
. tory or critical essay has its merits, but
we fancy that what the novel reader finds
most suggestive is just talk about novels
That is why, IN the list given above, we
Mace first Professor Phelps's Essays
on Modern Novelists
Il is a book Of entertaining talk, and,
while the author is nothing if not critical
we gather that he has that conception OF
criticism which leaves plenty Of elbow
room for the expression Of plain likes
and dislikes. On no other hypothesis can
we explain the curiously unsympathetc
nature of his essay on Thomas Hardy.
about whom he contrives to write with
some flashes Of appreciation. but whose
essential power he would appear TO have
missed. He is obsessed by this master
pessinisrn. and consequently fails to 90
Justice to that instinct Of compassionate
understanding which runs through all
The novels like q healing element. De
ridedlv. Professor Phelps's opinion OF
Hardy would do little TO lure the reader
into the rich byways Of WesseX. But
where he finds a theme more TO his
mood this essavist not only offers good
guidance but talks with that gusto which
has q value Of its own, almost affection
stesv interpreting given novelist bring
ing out all his good points and showing
the reader how much pleasure he may
end in coming to closer quarters Win
the subject. Thus the papers on MI
DE Morgan. Mr. Howells, Bj0rnson and
Rlacknlore are genuinely inspiring, sound
II, Judgment and tinged with a whole
some ardor His study Of Kipling is not
,,.jte successful Il makes some we'll
considered points, but seems somehow
10 have been written from the outside.
W. are grateful for the politely candid
analz-sis Of Mrs. Hunphry Wards liter
AIRY character. The truth about that
,-ast1,- oyerrated novelist has not any
where else that We know Of been so
fully or SO ccnclUslvely stated
IF
English Novel; is not. like the Book Just
surveyed. q miscellaneous collection 81
fugitive papers. but a more or less aca-
1e,77ic scheme. Systematically carrying
tho e,,biect down from Richardson ana
Fielding to stevenson. NeveTtheless'
This author gives Us the talk that Is
as We have said. most stimulating TO the
s,udent Of fiction He writes freely ana
with ? light touch. bringing la the
e7acdote or other brief quotation which
viii serve piquantly to .llumlnate his
subject. and indeed, his sketch -
eighteenth century fiction. while clearly
based on a sufficient scholarship. is Tar
ry-ore amusingly readable than are most
Of such historical excursions in books OF
instruction. It is all because Professor
FsuIton. too. has his likes and dlshkes'
%, rerhars VIC should rather say, q
keen zes- for his task. Literary history
4 so easily enveloped in the duh atmos-
r17ere Of routine The important thing
6 not TO pigeonhole your authors but
70 talk about them as though your read
ing had been pursued for its own sake.
II is In this vein that Professor Burton
writes of Jane Austen. of Scott, OF
Dickens. and all the rest. He initiates
the reader into their qualities and that.
We take it. is the purpose Of disgust
tions on the novel. At the same time,
he lzeeps his eye upon the broad move
1r7ent Of things. as he we'll shows in the
cIauter on the influence OF Stendhal,
Balzac and Flaubert. The pages on Bal
zac are particularly good, disclosing
true clairvoyance for the genius Of the
master Admirable, too. is his kind:inS
appreciation Of Trollope and in his est
mate Of Hardy he shows an insight
which is altogether refreshing. The last
,.banter. devoted 10 ''The American Con
tribution.' might better have been
emitted. 1t is but the merest postscript
and adds nothing Of any consequence 70
the purpose OF a useful and interesting
book.