The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-10

work IN critical survey of current let
tcrs. To point the argument 1t has
often been necessary to Invade the
field of letters in England, and even
IN tongues other than English; but
throughout these pages the central
theme. %harboring ar honest belief in
the decent welfare of literature In
America. has ever been mine In the
contributions l have made In years
past 10 our critical periodicals."
He goes on in his first chapter: THE
case OF pure literature In America is
comparable TO the case of My Lady
Parvenu's grand rout-crowded and
worthless. Quality Is sacrificed for
quantity. The out comprises every
body. which to the discriminating
spells nobody. Before the advance of
commcrcialism all else retreats. Birth
and breeding in n case; style, work.
manship and originality in the other.
Ii onc; hears literature talked Of at
all. IL il. not mostly In terms of mathc-
MATES?
"'Jones.' we hear. has built a sIo.-
900 cottage from the profits on his
new serial, Or. That now thing of
Browns has gone into six figures
Quantity, not quality. is what VIC
worship. With the publishers 1T is a
race to offer the greatest quantity of
sfSp go MA - i 10
a race to read the newest just a triflc
more speedily than their neighbors.
The author Is willing to produce at a
rate that cannot possibly ave any
thing to do with permanent literature.
The blame lies between publisher, pub
lie and author"
For the present condition of affairs
in literary America Mr.. Pollard blames
chiefly two classes designated by him
as THE Ladies and the Critics" He
begins his assault by pointing out that
- literature without critics is like a
park without a gate. What Is needed
at the gate Is club. We are under
the dominance of a publisher with a
purse to fill and the petticoat. Be-
tween them they keep our literature
headed for nothing save dollars, for as
long as we ave with us the ladies
we need never fear that the general
reading public will not eventually have
ali the little mysteries of human life
explained"
To illustrate the truth Of what he
Amelie Riyes's Quick and the Dead"
Frank Danby's 'Baccarat.' Lucas
Matel's Sir Richard Calmady." Beat
rice Harraden's The Fowler" int
kassandra Nivaria's Via Lucis."
Under his classification OF ladies'
he includes writers who are members
OF the male sex, but who in their art
are fcminists. among them the Oscar
Wildes, the Bernard Shaws, the Rich
ard LIE Galliennes n the Edgar Sal
fuses of literature. He devotcs some
vlrile paragraphs to such productions
as the French "Aphrodite" and Mar
garethe Boehme's DIARY Of a Lost
Soul" lie scores lie Caffeine for
presenting AN Idea from Mile. de
Maupin' IN a 'Mellins's Food wrapper.
Ills criticisms are indeed trenchant,
but he seems to enjoy their flavor.
OF Mrs. Humphry Ward Mr.. Pollard
declares that .she represents the Sal
walton Army in fiction, and that once
a tractarian she is always a %tracrarian.
Only the texts change, never the
tractarian manner Reverting to
Marie Corelli. he observes that Queen
Victoria's favorite knows perfectly
that her vast audience of chamber
maid intellects read her lampooninE OF
society with delight. because 1t has
ever pleased the chambermaid mind to
hear criticisms of that winch fills 1t
With envy. Once you nave succeeded
IN appealing to the intellect of a
chambermaid, o are sure of a cham
payne income" Departing from his
usual rule. he almost praises Mrs.
Gertrude Atherton by declaring that
"in several large and almost epic can
vases she has proved herself a most
thorough social historian" He ranks
the character OF "Richarda" In THE
Road to Damascus as one OF the
finest yer drawn by an American wo-
man; the book itself as having the
broadcast view of life that has been
shown on this side of the water. Mr..
Pollard in thus making II. A.. Mitchell
Keay's book an exception to a rule,
2congratulates himself that In the main
his opinion of American ONE owe
lists has not shown high. Some OF
them. he adds. have %debauched their
sex; most of them have sinned against
art. There is just one thing that will
activities. That will be when the pub
lie stops buying their books"
From women and manners, Mr.. Pol
lard passes on to take up men and
manners In l~iterature.wi such sclec-
tions as Robert Hlchens. i. 7. Benson.
Richard Pryce, John Galsworthy, Rob-
ert Chambers, Graham Phillips. Vim
ston Churchill and Henry James. lie
refers to the Garden Of Allah rs
Benson as losing his b%rilllancy in his
bourgeoisie; to John Galsworthy's
Country House as "a piece OF paint
ling that must endure because II
vitalizes an entire way or living: to
Richard Pryce's Successor" as using
the art OF suggestion more delicately
than any other English novel ! nl5the
last twenty five years.; to Robert
Chambers, us a novelist with a pos
sihle future, III he can forget the
commercial lures of publisher and
public: to David Graham Phillips, as
knowing life In the large and going
far beyond convention Into the wide
space of humanity; to Winston
Churchill, as n of the trio typical OF
the best in American literature. mot
better than England's second best, hut
the best permitted by American condt-
%itions.''
He emphasizes Henry James as all
ways, In every fine and large sense
of the words, a Man of Letters, and
considers that the only thing to DO
regretted about the art OF Mr.. James
is that Mrs Edith Wharton is sits
Tedious ape."SIIo cites w. p. Howells
.in his optimism as making quite as