Grand Forks daily herald., 1915-11-29
Novels Are Doomed.
) Interest IN Autos Aeroplanes
and Moving Pictures arc
Killing Fiction Books.


(Joyce Kilmer in New York Tmes.)
The novel 10 doomed. II the auto.
mobile. the aeroplane and the motion
picture continue to develop during the
next 10 years as they have developed
during the last 10, people will cease
almost entirely to take interest in
fiction.
It was not Henry Ford who told me
this. Neither was it Mr.. Wright, nor
M. Pathe. Tho man who made this
ominous prophecy about the novel ID
himself q successful novelist. He is
VIII N. Harden, author Of pole Bak-
err" Ann Boyd" 1.-The Desired Wom-
an" and many other widely read tales
Of life in rural Georgia.
Although he is 80 closely associated
with the southern scenes about which
he has written, Mr.. Harden spends
most Of his time in New York now.
adays. He justif1es this course inter-
estingly-but before tell his views
on this subject will repeat what he
had to say about this possible ex.
tinction Of the novel.
"You have read" he said. "of the
tremendous vogue Of 'Piokwick Pa
pers' when it was first published. No
work Of fiction since that time has
been received with such enthusiasm.
I'm London at that time you would
find statuettes of Pickwick, Mr.. Win
kle and Sam Weller in the shop VIM
dows. There was Pickwick punch
ladies. Pickwick teaspoons, Pickwick
souvenirs of all sorts.
Now, when you walk down Broad
way, do You find any reminders Of the
not, except of course in the bookshops.
But you do find things that remind
you of contemporary taste. In the
windows Of the stationers and drug
gists you find statuettes not Of char
acters in the fiction Of the day, but OF
Charlie Chaplin.
''Of course the motion picture has
all over the country are becoming less
and less interested in fiction. The time
which many people formerly gave to
the latest novel they now give to the
latest film.
"And the motion picture is by no
means the only thing which is wean-
ing US away from the novel. The au-
this direction.
Take, for instance, the town from
which cancellation. Ga. There the
people who used to read novels spend
the time which they used to give to
that entertainment riding around in
automobiles. Sometimes the~ 60 on
long trips. sometimes they go to visit
their friends in nearby towns. But
automobiling is the way in which they
nowadays are accustomed to spend
their leisure.
Naturally. this has it's effect on
their attitude toward novels. Years
ago, when Dalton had population of
about 5000, 1t had two we'll patronized
bookshops. Now 1t has q population
a1a Afr~h nk
all!
II suppose ono Of the reasons is
that people live their adventures by
means of the automobile, and there
fore do not care 80 much about get
ting adventures from the printed page.
But the chief reason is one of time
the fact is that people more and more
prefer automobilinE to reading.
Nov II the aeroplane were to be
perfected-as we have every reason to
believe it will be-so that we could
travel In It as we now do In the auto
mobile, what possible interest," would
we have in reading dry novels? It
seems likely that in 100 years we will
be able to, see, clearly the surface Of
Msr :, AR ~. you ,s think that that people .S, VIII
Nderful new world is before your eyes7.
1.-THE authors themselves are begin
ming to realize this They are becom-
ing more and more nervous. They are
not tho placid creatures that they were
in Sir Walter SCOTS day. They feel
that people are not as interested in
them and their works as they used to,
be. doubt very much II any publish
er today would be interested, for e1-
ample, in an author who produced q
novel as long as David Copperfeld'
and Of the Same excellence"
"But do you think" asked, "that
the fault is entirely that Of the pub
lic?" Haven't the authors changed,
too?"
II think that the authors have
changed" said Mr. Harben reflective
ly. THE authors do not live as they
used to live.
'oThe authors no longer live with
the people about whom they write. In
stead they live with other authors.
Nowadays, an author achieves sue
cess by writing, we will say, about the
people Of his home in the far west.
Then he comes to New York. And .n-
stead Of living with the sort Of people
about whom he writes, he lives with
artists. That must have it's effect
upon his work."