The sun., 1915-10-16
MANY SUCCESSFUL
AMERICAN AUTHORS
GIVE THEIR VIEWS
Continued from Ninth Page.

COUttUtsU FROM NtNtH fVVf.
wider field, appealir. to all manner OF
persons And in the exact degree to
which they do appeal to all manner OF
persons. they succeed. In my opinion
the best magazines are the popular mag
azines of the higher type that Is, thos,
edited by men OF intelligence and rea,
appreciation who. while deliberately ca
teri,g with son:e of their material to
what is called the 'ow brow at the
same time publish other matter which
10 valuable either for information IL con-
tains or for real literary quality. and
which could be got into the hands of
the low brow in no other way. Ii SEEMS
to me that the Saturday ErcHin0 Post,
for one. does this thing TO protection,
giving the low brow nothing that will
hurt him. much that will do him good.
and all that he will stand of the ma
terial which will actually elevate his
taste and maze him think and which
the latter grade OF materially. at the
same time causes persons who are not
''low brows' to read the Post
But with the novel 1t is different. a
novel cannot be made to cater to so
wide a field OF readers as "A popular mag
axine by supplying within itself various
materials of altogether different grade.
1t must be one kind OF novel, like the
enlarged counterpart Of one story in "A
magazine.
II were askel what one thing seemed
TO me most TO enrich a novel | should
say that II was the background of the
author. In making this statement I am,
Of course. assuming certain degree Of
literary skill. but think that. upon the
whole background is to be preferred
above literary skill. and that novels In
which skill is the apparent thing are
never so good as novels In which the
background of the authors mind-if II
really be a fine minds forever felt by
Ne reader. for example. beautiful
tapestries on the walls of n room are felt
by US subconsciously when we are in
that room and thinking of other things
1t is this sense Of background that
makes us love Meredith and Hardy. II
Is the same thing tha, makes the ad-
mirers of Henry James clcave to him
DO passionately tand i'm some cases i'm
itate him so faithfully. although some
See Mr.. Jamess background as through
. style. darkly.
The great exponent Of background in
Great Britain to-day Is Joseph Conrad,
who. struggle as he may with his tech
niQue, gives us always sense Of the
philosopher behind the work. of the
vastness of the world. the mystery OF
the wind. H. q. Wells also gives us n
sense Of background. but on his back
ground there seem sometimes to he
nasty spots. One feels Mr. Conrad sirug-
Cling like a great, honest giant in the
tolls Of his story, while MIR. Wells has.
somehow. the air of being creased. and
thereby slipping through with cunning
facility. Arnold Bennett, on the other
hand. seems to me 10 have less back
Is of IL is more uniformly agreeable.
Mr.. Wcllss tapestry is older than Mr..
Bennett's 1t is more beautiful in some
spots. but more rotten in others for
MIR. BENEFITS tapestry always gives me
the impression of something very good,
but also very, very new.
The American novelsts in whom
seem TO sense the richest background arc
Mark Twain, william Dean Howels,
and. more recently. Booth Harrington.
A distinguished edtor-ore OF the few
old school, scholarly editors We have
lcft--once told me il had been his OBJ
servation that the really able literary
men were engaged In storing up the
riches of the mind until they reached
about the age of 30. and that thereafter
they began to give of their best. II Is
Interesting to observe, therefore. that
Mr.. Tarkington's '"rhe Turmoil" with
the impress ion II gives OF ripeneSs, OF
mind richly stored and of the sweep OF
life in the United States to-day, occu'
pies. roughly speaking, corresponding
position in the chronology Of his work
20 1.-The Rise of Slas Lapham' in that
Of Mr.. Howells and to such works as
"The Tramp Abroad" "HuclleberrS
Finn" and Life on the Mississippi IN
the chronology of Mark Twain.
These writers-indced, all writer's who
have achieved in high degree the quality
Of background-dffcr most from the or
dinary lot Of writers in that they have
highly developed their observation, theti
Intellectual powers and their faculty fol
self-criticism. They have not writer
with their ears to the ground. nor To th'
telephone wire at the other end Of whicf
sits an editor. Nor, upon the Other
hand, have they juggied with culture fol
cultures sake. which is another populal
American pastIme. They have ploddet
up the hill of life slowly. observing "a
they went along, working their wa,
round and round, up and up, until, a
last, they have reached the point tina
many never reach the point AT which
there is "A view.