New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-05-23
YuE EIoHTEEN.ElGHT

r,rAN BY Theodore Dresser. limo
ihD 20 The John Lane Company
mile Robert Herrick is still plead
:, for greater freedom for the Ameri-
novelist, Theodore Dresser long
took It. and by the mere weight Of
,orserous talent imposed himself
=, our literature. Others had done
o,a continue TO do 1t. in minor
-s but he is our arch-realist.
,urestrsined and unafraid' 1t is well
:, AMERICAN fiction that he has been
accepted; IT is. perhaps as well that
0DOsi,ion to him continues. IN fact
=, the present stage OF his career OPP
...,,,on may do him more good than
..-m He gave us the full measure
=, ,,s matter and the manner OF his
=. IN his first book, since when ne
,.s neither progressed nor refrigerated.
,or es the essential quality OF his
..,s &c concerned. He has broadenod
"a. canvas. he has come to deal with
-. more vital social forces than in
.c,.,or Carrie" but his conception or
men and women has remained funoa-
-sntally tho same; and he has con-
,,ued 10 take them from approximate
" the same social stratum. He does
"A, see American life whole; and' so
"a, as he sees 1t steadily, he is becom-
inc increasingly preoccupied with one
phase Of it, whose importance lie ex-
segerates. This over-emphasis is the
weakness Of realism in its reaction
from the sentimentality and pink-and-
eold unhealthy and timidity Of the aver
age Of our immature fiction.
Love and passion are legitimate sub
,iects for the novelist who addresses
himself TO mature readers, provided al
wavs that he recognize their idealisn'
their beauty and romance as well as
their tragedy. Neither the beauty no-
the tragedy is found in this second
volume devoted TO the career Of Frank
Algernon Cowperwood. He has not the
eve TO see them. he has not the temper
ament to create them. He merely
obeys an impulse; his passing amours
do not interest US, except where they
threaten 10 interfere fatally with his
business interests, a danger that he
often incurs with no peTceptible excuse
Of a really great passion. In his love
affairs he is decidedly not a Titan"
He is very commonplace. and the most
that one can say is that he runs after
women as puppy runs after chick
ems, because it is his nature. There is
not even the strong touch Of delio-
crate defiance of society in his furtive
intrigues.
This IS all Of a piece, it is true, with
his turnings and twistings, his chs
canery and dishonesty and treachery as
Titan OF finance. The character
study is consistent. But that, even as
realism. does not satisfy us any more
than does a faithful photograph Of n
particularly uninteresting subject. The
title Of the book does not At its hero,
except in so far as his acquisition Of a
gigantic fortune is concerned. And
here. indeed, we find the true merit or
The book. It is a stupendous picture,
6llt up ponderously, detail upon de-
tail, IN the Zolaesque manner, Of the
period in which gigantic fortunes were
created out Of public utilities, out Of
gas and street railways, and the for
nation Of the first trusts; the period Of
the wholesale corruption Of city coun-
ellis and state legislatures. of bought
and stolen franchises and elections, Of
the control of politics by big business.
The struggles for control. for the
spells, the hidden and open fights, the
PERSONAL quarrels that are transferred
10 the financial arena, all this IS vivid
reading. Had Mr.. Dresser called his
book The Titans," no objection could
HoNt httl maui ~ il4o NiNiV' Nv AoeN
Frank Norris drew in 1.-THE Octopus"
the picture of one of these giants Of an
earlier generation, and. crowning tri-
umph Of his book, when at last the
reader came face to face with this su-
perman OF transcontinental railroad
building, he found him to be Titan
indeed. irresistible as q force Of Ma
ture Compared with him Mr.. Dresser s
Cowperwood is not even clay; he is
slippery, common city mud.
The scene is laid in the Chicago Of
the eighties and nineties Of the last
century. The authors pictures of the
eity's society" of the period may be
lett to the Chicago reviewers for COM
ment and criticism. They are pungent;
SO. no doubt, will be the critics. SO far
a.. ~. rNwos..,. ot-,,.. 10. 4,