New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-11


Assess or TIE DEVIL and THE LAST
TRUMP. Being q Fiut selcctOa from The
70 TIE Tines Prepared foI publication ~ Resi
Maid Bias with Ambiguous Introduction y
u. @. Wells l?uo, pD sS The George H.
Dorsn Company.
Fragmentary yet tremendously pur-
poseful, this book is certainly "appro-
pirate to the times" most Of all in
England, to whose thinking men and
women it is chiefly addressed.
In his introduction Mr.. Wells dis
claims all responsibility for the work.
The supposititious editor informs US
that Boon was prolific and prosper
Gus purveyor Of popular reading mat-
ter, who relieved his evaporation at
the stuff which he must grind out for
the sake, not only Of bread and butter,
hut Of all the Injuries Of life and
a growing fortune, by writing in Sc
cret books he dared not publish. He
dictated his sentimental, optimistic
hapdoodle TO a typist representative OF
the respectability Of his public, taking
warning from the shrinking of her
overstepping the safe boundary Of
platitude. He was greatly beloved in
America. but in his hours of frank
ness with Bliss referred to his public
here as "Her." He even planned
great satirical novel. to be called Aunt
Columbia" but prudently desisted. lie
died In the early days of the war.
When Bliss came TO administer his
literary estate, he found. not the dar-
ing books he had been led 20 expect,
but only fragments, and these he pre-
sents here-some Of them literary crit
icism and parody for its own sake,
more Of them satire with grim pur-
pose. Boon had. for instance, planned
a literary novel whose climax was 10 be
The murder. by an author, of the great
literary critic Dr. Tomlinson Key
hole. But the fragment Bliss found
dealt only with congress on the
mind Of the race and lis collective adj
vancement and elevation by literature.
Sir. Wells believes i'm literature with
purpose: the an-of-letters. as he con-
ceives him. must be a servant and
leader. a prophet Of humanity. ART
for arts sake does not interest nm.
There is q delicious bit o. parody OF
George Moore here. and an elaborate
orc Of Henry Jamcs's manner and SUB
.tauce- the plot Of q novel Of his 10
he called "The Spells Of Mr.. Blandish
IL is highly amusing and cleverly
done. But Boon's faith in the leader
sbir and the service of the man
or-lctters is sorely unsettled by ms
friend wilkins, who points to the false
leaders. the uniformed and misln-
+orred and misleading authors. to
those who deliberately write down 70
the level of the mind of the race, and
10 that part Of it which never reads
The Wild Asses" is fragmentary
es+ire The animals have escaped
from Hades. and poor, shlvering mp
Of the lowest class Is trying to round
HON m on earth. A novelist in search
If material helps him in his task. lhey
find one Of the asses in Parliament KICK
ing ND its heels, but when they start TO
carture il an usher elects them. others
Of the asses are braying in tr British
is a fable Of the war-and
Boon. already on his sick-bed' ex-
claims:
Al least the German stand for
something. 1t may be brutal, stu
hid. intolerable, but there 1T is
definite intention, a scheme Of liv-
ing. an order, d German Kultur.
But what the devil do ne stand
for? Was there anything that
amounted to an intellectual life
at all in all our beastly weller OF
writing, of nice-y oung-man poetry,
Of stylish fiction and fiction with
out style. Of hay history, popular
philosophy, SOLDERING criticism,
academic civilities? Is there any
thing here to hold the people