The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-18

thread. is the effort OF Boon and his
friends to define in some way what
they cali the mind Of the race"
They have an idea that from the be-
ginning the generality OF men have
had common thoughts and beliefs hat
have led them to action. not those OF
leaders or writer's or expressed in
books, but almost unconscious instincts
that influence them. This is by no
means u new idea; II has been treated
solemnly by more than one philosophi-
cal writer. These friends approach 1t
from many sides and II they do not
define 1t precisely they convey a very
strong impression OF what they mean
and they 10 II In an amusing way.
The characterization Of Boon Is en-
tertalning. He Is q successful novelist.
h ioathes his own books, because
ne does not dare to say what he would
like to. He dictates them to a lady
stenographer so that nothing i'm
proper shall creep into them. When
she shows dlsapproval or leaves the
room he revises his tex to suit her.
He has occasionally something to say
about America. where his reputation
Is highest, and about American au-
thors:
In spite OF our circumstances. he sub
scribed to the New York Nation to the
very end. and he insisted. in spite OF fact.
reason. and my earnest entreaties, In ngur-
Ing that continental empire as a vain,
garrulous and prosperous female Of UNI
certain age. and still more uncertain tenn
per, with unfounded pretensions to In
tellectuality and an ideal OF refinement
Of the most negative description. entirely
on the strength OF that one sample. one
might as well Judge England by the
Spectator.
And later he exclaims:
The sort Of America that ought to
supply young new writer's with oaresses
and punishment Instead OF
which you get the Nation That
bleak acldity. that refined appeal to take
the child away. 80 America will sit never
knowing she's had a stephen Crane.
adoring the European reputation. the forid
mental gestures OF a Conrad. You see,
she can tell Conrad writes 1t shows
And she'll let Mary Austin die of neglect.
while she worships the art OF Mary Ward.
It's like turning from the fee, OF a god
dess to a pair OF soloshe.. She frmly be
lieves that old auack Bergson Is a bigger
man than her own unapproachable Will
lam James She's Incredible
The discussion very soon turns to
literature. which is made to include all
forms Of human thought and art. They
all have doubts as to whether there Is
any literary greatness. and suggest
that regulations are merely manufac-
tured by Philistines and college pro-
fessors of literature. who assert the
merits OF authors wh5Se books neither
they nor the general public ever read.
This Judgment is passed not only on
Scott and Thackeray and Dickens and
Schiller. but on Shakespeare and
Goethe also. in very i%rreverent terms.
Then Boon decides to have a confer
ence Of literary men TO talk the matter
over. a Royal Society for the Dig
enlargement of Literature. and Dor.
ows from W. II. Mallock a pictur-
esque garden for the meeting. This
gives the opportunity for expressing
contempt or admirati- n for a good
many living authors, with neither of
which the reader is likely to agree
always.
In this garden ne imagines a dia
logue between George Moore and
Henry James In which both gentlemen
pursue entirely Independent trains OF
thought. He drifts away at once &c
Mr.. James. beginning with ingenious
limitations OF the long. complicated
sentences in which he says nothing
then Contriving a farcical mystery
story and telling 1t in MIR. Jame.'s
style. When words fail him the clever
caricatures carry on the story. a de-
vice frequently employed Throughout,
the book. Mr.. James has the lions
share OF his attention and is treated
very kindly. The literary remains
The Wild Asses and THE Las
Trump are the beginnings and out.
lines Of clever and witty apologize.
which have point.
The jibes at philosophy are ever
funnier than those at literature. W,
meet early an agnostic named Dodd
one Of those Middle Veterans who =
about with a preoCcupied. Caulkine alt
as though. after having been at great cos
and pains to Danish God from the Uni
verse. they we're resolved not TO PERM
Him back on any terms whatever.
Boon used to declare that every nigh
Dodd looked under the bed for the Deity
and slept with a large revolver under hi
pillow for fear of a revelation.
Later a clear headed critic takes
fall out OF the modern German
thinkers" Sc~hopenhauer, Nietzsch
and II. S. Chamberlain. the great In
tellectual high kickers." He declare
that the I%retent!ous expression of In
stinctive crudity has always been tn
peculiar weakness CT the German
mind" He demonstrates that all thre
invent their incontrover,ib.e facts
and trust t. "impudent assertion L
have them accepted. OF Chamber
lain's book he says nowhere hes
been handed over to the Ce-.sion whic'
is its proper treatment He denie
that 1900 was a turning point" an
most Of Chamberlain's Teutonlc orr
gins.
that dodge OF claiming all the gres
figures OF the -TeutonIc nations q
Teutons IL carried out To magnificent p,
tremes, Dante Is a Teuton on the strengt
Of his profile and his surname. and ther
IL some fine play abou, the race OF Chris
He came from Galilee, VIGOROUSLY nor
Jewish and so on, - . And the illiterac
of Michael Angelo II Just an inspirat!o
Of chamberlain's He knows his readers.
On the other hand Boon has thi
10 say ABOUT tHe tnSIlSn, Tor ny IN
end Of the book the war has crep
into IL:
At least the Germans stand for som,
thing, II may be brutal, stupid. intoleI
able, hut there 1t is-a definite intentio,
a scheme OF living. an order, German
kultur, But what the devil do IRE stan
for? Was there anything that amounte
to an intellectual life at all in all o,
beastly weller OF writing. of nice-youn,
man poetry. OF stylish fiction and hc,io