The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-11-28
SOME OPENED
SECRETS OF THE
AUTHORS CRAFT
Observation the First Law, but Observation Of the
Right Sort-What 1t Consists or
The Ethics of Curiositys the Novel Supreme
Among the Great Traditional Forms of Art9
Autobiographical Play in Fiction Novel Wr;t;no vs
Play Writing Artist and Public.

~ ARNOID Bennett.
- WILL he we'll for us not to as
sumo an attitude Of condcscension
toward the crowd. Because in the
matter Of looking without seeing We are
all about equal We all go to and fro
In state OF the observing faculties
which somewhat resembles coma We
are all content to look and not see.
And II and when. having comprehendcd
tina, the role of observer is no. pas
slve but active. We determine by an of-
fort TO rouse ourselves from the coma
world, a spectacle surpassing circuses
and even street accidents in sustained
dramatic Interest. VIC shall discover,
slowly In the course of time, that the act
OF seeing, which seems easy. is not
SO easy AS II seems. Let a man re-
solve: 81 will keep my eyes open on
the way to The office of n morning." and
the probability is that for many morn
ings he will see naught that Is not trl-
vial and that his system Of perspective
will be absurdly distorted. Tine unusual.
the unaccustomed Will infallbly attract
him to the exclusion OF what is funda-
mental and universal. Travel makes OBJ
servers OF US an, nut the Things Nnicn
as travellers we observe generally show
now unskilled we are In the new ac-
tlw;y.
A man may acquire the ability to OBJ
serve even a large number OF facts ana
still remain in the infantile stage OF
observation. | have read in some work
Of literary criticism that Dickens could
walk up one side of long, busy street
and down the other, and then tell YOU
in their order the names on all the shop
signs the fact was alleged as an Illus
tration of his great powers of observa-
ton. Dickens was great observer,
hut he would assuredly have been still
greater observer had he been a little
less presccupied with trivial and un-
ooordInated details.
what Good Observation Consists OF.
Good observation consists not in null
tpliclty of detail. but in coordination OF
detail according TO true perspective
OF relative Importance, so that finally
just general impression may be reached
In the shortest possible time. The skilled
observer is he who does not have TO
change his mind. one has only to COM
pare ones present adjusted impression
OF an intimate friend with ones first
impression OF him to perceive the as
founding inadequacy OF ones powers OF
observation. The man as one has learned
10 see him is simply not the same man
who walked into ones drawing room on
the day OF introduction.
The Atm Of Observation.
One is curious about ones fellow crea-
lures therefore one watches them. And
generally the more Intelligent one Is. the
more curious one is, and the more one
observes The mere satisfaction of this
iS IN end
would alone justify the business OF sys-
t.matized observation. But the aim OF
observation may. and should. be expressed
In terms more grandiose. Human curiosity
counts among the highest social virtues
as Indifference counts among the basest
defects. because II leads to the disclos-
ure OF the causes of character and tenn
perament and thereby to better under
standing OF the springs Of conduct.
Observation is not practised directly
with this high end IN view, save by prgs
and other futile souls: nevertheless 1t Is
moral act and must inevitably promote
kndness, whether we like 1t or not. II
also sharpens the sense OF beauty. An
ugly deed. such as deed of cruelty
takes on artistic beauty when It's origin
and hence its fitness in the general scheme
begin to be comprehended. In the per-
spectlve of history we can derive an
scrutiny OF all kinds of conduct as well.
FOR example. Of Renaissance Pope as OF
Savonarola. Observation endows our
day and our street with the romantic
charm OF history, and stimulates charity
not the charity which signs checks, but
the more precious charity which puts
Itself TO the trouble OF understanding.
The Novels Place Among the Arts.
would not argue that the novel should
Ne counted supreme among the great ira
dltiOnal forms OF art. Even II there is
Greatest form. | do not much care which
Y .s have In turn been convinced that
Chartres Cathedral. certain Creek sculp-
'pre. MO2ari's Don Juan and the
juggling Of Paul Cinquevalli was the nm
es thing In the world not TO mention the
ach.evements of Shakespeare or NljinsKN
But there Is something to be said for the
cal preemnence OF prose fiction as
lterary form. Even the modern epic
has learned almost all IL knows from
prose fiction. The novel has, and always
will have. the advantage Of it's compre-
hens!ve bgness ST Peters at Rome Is
tribe compared with Tolstoi's 'War and
Peace; and Il is as certain as anything
can be that, during the present geological
'pocn az any rate, no epic half as long
Is War and Peace" will ever be read,
even II written.
Notoriously the novelist including the
PLAYWRIGHT, who Is a subnovellst, has been
'ak.us the bread out Of the mouths or
"'Afr artists. In the matter OF poachin3
NJ rainier has done lot. and the COM
poser has done more. but what the painter
ara the composer have done Is as naught
compared 10 the graspng deeds or tire
novelist And whereas the painter ana
nv composer have got into dlfilculues
WIN their audacious schemes, the novel;
- mas poached, colonized, and annexed
win success that is not denied. There
A scarcely any aspect OF the interesting
'NS of life which Is not now rendered
IN prose fiction, from landscape painting
20 81. plogy, and none which might not
20 Unnecessary to go back to the ante
scout age In order TO perceive how the
novel has aggrandiz j itself: II has con-
Vl'rcd enormous territories. even since
t"-u.ral' within the last fifteen years
Nt> gained Were II to adopt the hue
o, '"c British empire, the entire map
nt 'l" universe would soon he colored red.
~.e'eNcr 1t ought 10 stand in the hier-
'rNfF Of forms. II has actually no rival
~ '" present day as "A means FOR trans
n"''ig Nh" impassioncd vision OF lie.
s, ana viii he for some time TO come,
mo i"'m to which the artist with the
most Inclusive vision iustiUctivciy turns,
"cdus' il ~ the most inclusive form, and
|' most dlaDtahlc. Indeed before we