New-York tribune., 1911-10-21
WISE ARNOLD BENNETT
His Only Message: Sit Down
and Do Your Job"

ana DO YOut JOD.
! Arnold Bennett, the English novelist.
arrived in New York this week on MS
his return to England. about two months
| hence. he will write for his American
publishers his impressions Of ms, or 4
| that part of us coming under his OBJ
seryatior. "Of course, I will not Ut
tempt To delve deeply into your social,
economic or political problems said Mr..
Bennett when questioned on this matter,
/ but / will take just the surface condi-
tions presented to the casual observer,
and il ! can do the subject justice II
{ should make interesting reading. for iou
people present amazing possibilities to a
writer"
MIR. Bennett does not look his forty
| four wears. and in many respects his
manner IL almost boyish. s medium sized
man. with a very merry and ever pres' mt
| twinkle i'm his eyes. he Immediately puts
his interviewer at case. and refuses 10
suggest by either word or manner that
llf. Is one tii lili IAlbNN lhlhfln sbNhN INV
clists of his time, and, as such. expects
to be treated with becoming Difference.
Whatever nc may be he is not an intel
lectua or literary prig. II write with n
fountain pen entirely, and never revise
my manuscript" hc continued as ne
clasped his knees and settled back for a
comfortable chat. My hours of work
are indefinite, and when ! find myself
becoming fatigued mentally or physi-
caily ! just stop writing and go for a
brisk walk walking being my only form
of physical exercise. In addition to my
novels ! have written twenty plays. md
they have met with nothing but disaster,
Into one play ( put $50 perfectly good
jokes, and only twenty of them were
sccn' But | intend to continue writing
plays until | am fifty, and If ! meet with
no greater success / will then quit
II am not n man Of college or uni
versity training. Indeed. YOU may put
| mo down as an uneducated man, as ]
have no scholarship whatever. You
| know. in England they arc not interested
| in education. In Stafyordshire, where |
| live. some one suggested the advisahillty
! of establishing a technical school TO edu,-
| cate the rising generation in eartheu-
ware manufacture, the great industry OF
! the district The munifcent sum of 600
was subscribed by few millionaire
manufacturers and the school was
started. But the people vino controlled
the industry were not really interested
| I'm mental development. They wait
! skilled hands, with machine-iike pre-
cison. Brains are a by-product. In my
opinion that is England's greatest handi-
cap. and the alarm spreading over he
country because Of Germany's great and
menacing progress would soon be dissi-
pated If we followed her example and
educated our people. The subject ot
eugenics is another grave problem. but 1t
! Is i'm the hands Of the wrong crowd-a
| lot of radical reformers who wear odd
clothing and Objectionable sandals. The
/ work 10 be done must be practical. not
visionary and theoretical, and must not
/ be handicapped by the limitations OF a
]
/ novelist such as myself. Tor ! have ro
propaganda, no life work 10 message 10
the world--cXcept TO sit down and do
your job.
My work has been influenced greatly
by the work Of other writer's George
Moore probably to greater extent than
any other. II was he who gave me the
idea OF doing a book about my own dis
trict. / cannot understand why he IS not
read and appreciated by larger public
His 4 Mummer's Wife is a monumental
creation. and has influenced me more
than any book Lhavo ever read.
NV plots and main themes arc almost
entirely imaginary. But plots do not
worry me-character studies arc what
make me burn tho midnight oil. The
appreciation Of my books, I believe, is
more significant I'm America than else
whore. and the success have achieved
over here is as astonishing TO me as it Is
gratifying.
II have no use whatever for the ne"
! English Academy. II is a self-consti-
tuted group Of literary hangers-on with
out excuse for being. | sec that Bernard
! Shaw has become Il member, but why
can't imagine-I must ask him.
! ", understand that the pronunciation
of Clayhauger, the title of one of ny
books. is sometimes the subject of dis
putc over here. / can't imagine why. II
| is the name Of a small town in my dis
trict. and ] have never heard IT pro-
nounced except as it is spelled, with 'he
accent on the first syllable