The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-06-25
A POINT OF

friend the novelist to q balcony
seven hundred or so feet above Broad
way. Atterbury did not feel called
upon to point out the details Of the
view. He did say, however:
Perhaps you will not care for this.
since you are in the habit Of profess
sionally observing the work Of mems
hands"
mot on such q scale as this the
novelist responded. looking northward
to the Palisades and letting his eye
follow tho progress Of a nag decked
steamboat up the Hudson. II shall
never become a Balzac TO write a
Coincide Humane. 1t takes q tower
ing genius not to be engulfed in the
crowds below us. without those
crowds we should never have this
produce the artist observer who scars
to a great height above them and
gets his perspective there"
HE repays the crowds by reducing
them, In his gaze. to a dead level"
remarked Atterbury. He has too
much perspective. His art consists In
putting everything he beholds as
nearly as possible into two dimensions
and then asking o TO accept II as
a veraclous observation Of life. The
third dimension IL expressed over
poweringly In the tail ivory tower Of
his egotism. from which he looks
down with serene contempt on the
rest OF the world"
"Ah. you are preaching a modern
gospel" the novelist rejoined. you
are infatuated with the idea OF noise.
rush, restlessness, and Of standing at
the centre OF things. You don't want
TO stand On the tower. you want TO
stand on the seething sidewalk be-
meath IL. But II the man in the tower
fattens things into W dimensions.
you compress them into one. You
see no length or breadth at all. only
IA confused succession Of objects ex-
tending up and down. II inks you to
think that. whatever befalls. a horizon
bounds your view. So you abolish the
horizon by moving II up to the zenith
and refuse to believe there Is any
thing you can't see the end Of"
1T is better to make hat mistake
than To make the other" declared At
terbury. II accept the disabilities ~
the man OF action. He Is fatally close
70 events and can't study their proper
lions. He can only fling himself for
ward and make his impress on their
shape
Blu you can readily see that the
novelist cannot act that role said
his friend personal---very.. HE has to
de,ach himself without losing his i'm
vpAliafa nAptnnf xvtth TIM daadg
under way. 1t Is his most difficult
task. Sometimes he makes h mis-
take OF letting one of the actors tell
the whole story. Then the recital IL
distorted by n too near view. II Is
equally bad. | admit. TO let an iso-
lated onlookcr be the chronicler.
III we're TO view New York solely
from this summit, should ! not make
g~rievous mistakes about IL? My con
spectus here is worth while only be-
cause | have been afoot TO many of
tho places beneath us. I know that
Brooklyn Bridge il not the graceful
trifle that II ppear and that the
C!.y Hal! has 4 lovely facad" and 10
not really n handsome pattern IN the
lawn OF City Hal Park.
Now. as A novelist | would be an
everlasting failure had ! not lived In
the heat of the struggle: but having
done so a certain withdrawal is inn
perative. n certain contemplation and
weighing of motives and results. II
must not last too long or the reality
will have faded. II doesn't matter
whether | tell the story IN terms of
one " the participants or In terms Of
the observer. providing | do not deal
exclusively In either, OF the meth
eds Of combining detachment with
participation that Of Henry James
VAS one of the most skilful. With
him You have the events as they i'm
pressed themselves on some one who
took part in them at times and
watched, the rest of the while: hut
this cCoun is insured against the
defects of a single vision by the add
ton NJ the authors observations. An
other excellent way is cNcmpl.iicd in
some Of the stories of Joseph Conrad.
Tie let's a man who was mainly an obs
server tell the story. hut this orlookcr
was an actor in some Of the affairs
related and has received his account
OF the things he neither saw nor took
part In from the lips of others who
WV 'Hhi'i WV w 'N'N'lN'iN w
both Thus the relation H. corrected
by the viewpoints Of a number Of per-
sons. az an elaborate nautical Calcu-
lation of the ships position may 100
corrected for compass error. the drift
OF q current. and so on. And here
again the author reserves tho right of
a final determination Of values"
II can't read either one of them"
said Atterbury shortly. And | can't
understand how n man can have the
patience in writing TO go into snch
r~etincmcnts.'
III IL an arduous undertaking" the
novelist assured him, as they left the
balcony. The production Of a book
Of such n character requires a pro-
longed and sustained effort comparable
with the most difficult lahors in the
world OF action that You love. And
! suspect that il is made possible, like
all the best achievements Of mankind,
only hN rare compensatory moments
when "A white hot purpose flames In
the heart of the worker ana lights
for an instant the path nf destiny"
WHY Nnt LOT tho nld Man Nvo.l