New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-02-21
LITERARY CRITICISM
AND BOOK NEWS
The Purple Eighteen Nineties in England dan
Informing Book on the Dual Monarchy
AS Mrs. Alec weedie Sees Us.

AIR Jackson s common sense Ndlua'iV''
, of the yellow Book" movement itsei,
on the one hand. and, on the other the
lengths TO which he goes in trying to
prove il the origin and beginning of all
that has happened since in English 1T
erature and it's attitude toward life.
rhus he sums up:
our new found freedom seemed to ma
! inst the expression it needed IN the
abandoned nonsense chorus or Iarara-
boom-de-ay." which, lit at the req sklrts
of Lottie Collins spread ike a danclns
flame through the land, obsessing the
minds of young and old. gay and sedate'
until IL became NerltaoIe sonS pee T.
provoking satires even upon ltSelI III me
music halls of its origins. FROM lh9-
10 1896 it would seem To have been the
absurd Ca ira Of a generation oent upon
kicking over the traces.
Just so. Very much "Tarara- boom
decay" very much of an obsession of
very immature new generation, which
did not knock at the door, but made
itself very much at home and at
tempted TO put its feet on the table in
the faces of it's seniors; and which very
soon turned into "a veritable past, pro-
voking. not only satire, but energetic
measures for it's suppression. An ex-
otto. il failed TO take root. Fruit II
bore none, unless we are willing to ac-
cept the authors post hoe theory
What. in the retrospect, does it matter
TO us what Hubert Crackanthorpe said
J TO Arthur Waugh on the subject oil
the new fiction? Other, really potent
Influences were at work moulding the
future.
Mr. Jackson has given us book that
revives many forgotten memories and
many vanished names. One likes his
chapters on Francis Thompson and the
minor poets of the time; one grows inn
patient with the never ending attempt
TO prove Oscar Wilde a genius. Judged
by his work. he was man Of brilliant
talent, and nothing more. There is
even room for doubt of the sincerity of
DE Profundis." And why, oh, why, is
if so difficult to turn 1.-The Incompatible
Max" into good copy?
In conclusion it may not be amiss -
recall that, if England had its
Eighteen Nineties," America had its
Eighteen Eighties; that if the Mother
Country had it's yellow Book" out
break, America had what may be
called, after the publishing house that
chiefly fostered it, its Bedford Clarke"
: literary ebullition. 1t was the day OF
! 1.-THE Quick and the Dead" Of Edgar
| Saltuss "Mr Incouls Misadventure"
| and Mrs. Atherton's Hernia Suy-
| dam"-tremendous sensations all-the
Gay Of Clara LAMA, Laura Daintrey,
! Percival Pollard, and the transplanted
| Fnglishman, Edgar HerOn-Allen. Our
| literary disturbance passed even more
| quickly than that across the waters;
with the exception of Mrs. Atherton's
bold entrance, it was just as exotic, and
failed as completely to take root. None
can claim for it the credit for the
greater freedom OF literary expression
which has since been esta blished here
as in England. With us. too. other.
really potent influences were at work.
The echo Of the yellow Book" move
ment was clearly heard on these shores.
We read and discussed that quarterly
and its successor, The Savoy; we re-
published many of its authors. The
| echo grew fainter in such publications
! as our own "Chap Book" then died out
! altogether Mr.. Jackson has revived
many memories Of a joyful period of
the sowing of many literary wild oats
| His book is capital reading.