The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-03-06
v, D. HOWELLS, GREAT NOVELIST
The Most Notable of the American Apostles of Real
isn He Writes of the Life of His Day
IS We All Know 1t.
~ esther GRIFFIN WHITE.

~ esther GRIFFIN WHITE.
A great American was honored tn
New York the other day.
w. d. Howells. the dean Of the liter
ati of this country. WAS toasted and
dined by his confreres In celebration
OF his seventy NTH birthday.
1t seems long cry from Howells to
Dickens.
The centenary OF tho latter was OBJ
served in various parts OF tho world
but more impressively in America than
otherwhere-justa few weeks ago.
And still Dickens seems far away
and remote.
Although no doubt your parents may
have heard him lecture in this coun.
try on one Of his famous American
tours, for he came az far west a. Gin
cinnati.
Nonetheless Dickens seems. person
ally. in a class with Shakespeare and
other of the famed names. We do not
think of him a. one with whom our
generation overlaps.
'Howells. however, whom no-one can
Ever contemplate AZ other than young.
was but twenty-five years the junior
OF Dickens.
W. d. Howells. centuries hence, will
loom conspicuously on the horizon.
He Ia somewhat obscured, at pres
ent. In the. public eye. by the brilliant
sky.rocketings Of the best sellers"
But who can now remember the
best sellers" OF a half dozen years
since?
So 1t will be a century or so hence.
Tho faithful painting Of the por-
traits Of his contemporaries and Of the
mise-en.scene OF their environment
will DO the foundation from which his
torians will draw material for their
commentaries on the life OF the day
Howells 10 q realist.
An incorporating one. Among his
idols are Tolstoi and Ibsen. and among
those he holds in a certain contempt
are Dickens and Thackeray. one Of
whom he terms a melodramatist and
the other a sentimentalist.
Whether or not these are just or cor.
rect estimates 10 neither here nor
there. They merely indicate the trend
Of the great novelist's social and ar
tistic sympsthies.
But Howells himself has written
some Of the most accurate and truth
full expeditions Of American life-as 1t
10 known to the average. what Ia some
times termed the "middle-class." that
have ever been produced or ever will
hA In tno hA rNrAl-
lions that prevailed are in process Of
evolution. and their recording will no
longer be possible.
Howells takes the position that
much Of the Action nowadays concerns
life In it, exaggerations and exceptions
not a. It 10 known to the great mass
and therefore that the art Of the novel
lot should not concern itself alone
with the vivid and highly colored but
with the neutral tints and the half
tones.
His novels of the life Of people who
might live In any town. Of from Ave to
thirty thousand people. in Maine to
California. are descriptive Of American
social phases that are. in their way.
incompatible and inimitable, for they
are not only realistic pictures but they
are drawn and colored with exquisite
art.
Everybody has known the people
like those, I'm the Rise Of Silas Lap
ham," "A Modern Instance" "A Haz.
ard Of New Fortunes" Their Wed.
ding Journey" "A Womans Reason"
THE Kentons," "A Chance Acquaint.
ance." or "A Fearful Responsibility"
Here are found types and characters
essentially American. For Howells,
himself middle western product and
the native Of small Ohio town. under.
stands these types as very few Of his
compatriots-who are the same time
literary artists--have done
While Howells has been accused OF
drawing his women without that saw
ing sense OF humour which they are
supposed not to possess but which, in
reality. they frequently have in a very
accentuated degree he. himself. has a
humour as hne and delicate. at once al
subtle and rapier.like. as 1t is paradox
ically mellow and human.
Howells has certain exquisite
whimsicality. tinged with just bit OF
sardonicism. which might be said to
play sort Of second violin to his more
q obvious humour. and which 10 not the
least Of his fascinating literary quail
ties.
In a sense. Howelfs Is q mystic.
He has written a story or two with
this quality dominant-that il, short
story. This 10 phase Of the psyche
loEy OF things that interests Howells
although rather guardedly admitted
He wrote q ghost story-the title OF
which the writer does not now recall
that 10 one Of the best OF its class
ever produced.
Although Howells. as a fctionist
treats OF the ordinary. the average and
the commonplace. he IL far from inves
ting his literary product with dullness
His stories are. In fact. full Of dramat'
ic moments and striking climaxes. but
they are the natural outcome Of the
plot and OF the persons involved
rather than extraneous and detached.
Lives that may seem grey and color
less are more or less dramatic.
This 10 necessarily attendant upon
the game Of life.
The latter 10 full Of contrasts. OF sud