The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-10-06
BY SAMUEL MERwIN.

BY SAMUEL MERWIN
I REMEMBER seven or eight years ago
L picking up a number Of text books
dealing yariously with the art or the craft
Of writing, fiction, and eagerly, reading
them. At that time i must have written
eight or ten books Of fiction and a con-
siderable number of uncollected shorter
things and had had four or Eve years e1-
pcrience editing magazines and books. 49,.
The net result Of, sll this experience was
bewilderment. I certainly didn't know
how to; write. The same laborious. effort
went into the poor work as into the mod
erately good work. The result, either way,
wxs an uncomfortable accident.
There was q chance that one or another
Of these text books all epurporting to
impart knowledge, oil dogmatic and lit
tie understanding might really bring
some light. But one after another / had
to throw them aside. The professors who
wrote them knew even less Of se art Of
fiction than /; they knew nothing. All,
that is, but one. The rest were, to, o man,
either historians or analysts; they had no
first hand knowledge of the problems that
confront the creative artist.
One Book Helpful.
The one book left was Materials and
Methods of Fiction by Clayton Hamilton.
L shrank at first from reading it, for I
know Clayton Hamilton, and one of the
settled advantages Of knowing an author
is that you don't have to read his.books.
Clayton Hamilton hasn't read my books.
He told me so last winter, But my need
was great that year. did read his book
And gained several bits Of knowledge.
Orie was that short story should begin
from the opening sentence IN its own
mood. Another was a clearing up Of GER
tain confusions regarding "point Of view"
in narrative. Still another was his thought
full handling Of the "realisrn" and gro
nance" controversy about which SO much
nonsense has been written and spoken.
Now this book comes to us again, ten
years old, "revised and amplified," walk
ing stoutIy under new title. l have
read it again, slowly. It is good book.
No young or middling young writer could
read il without gaining here or there some
clarifying definition, some freshness Of
outlook or bit Of keen thinking on lit
erary problems. ..
The book covers The Purpose Of Fic-
ton, Realism aud Romance, The Nature
Of Narratirc, Plot, Characters, Setting,
The Point of View in Narrative, EmphG-
SIS IN Ndrrotire, The Epic, The Drama and
the Novel, The NoreI, the Norelette and
the Short Story, The Structure Of the
Short Story and The Factor Of Style. 1t
is remarkably free despite its Reuiew
Questions and Suggested Reading from
didactics Mr.. Hamilton has nothing to
prove, no pet theories to worm into the
readers mind. His vision sweeps with
remarkable balance and clarity over the
whole subject. lie manages TO look at it
less as IN analyst or historian than as
student OF creative art
The Problem of Models.
TO me his best contributions are in the
chapters on the Short Story and on the
Point of View. lie knows what short
story Is flew do). He thinks freshly
and always clearly. l find these chapters
quite as stimulating now as eight years
ago. His faculty of clear thinking indeed
amounts TO gift. He can even sum up
an artists problems in epigrams and def
nilions without giving offence 10 the artist.
In one respect he is, after all, the his
torian. We find many references to old
models and old masters, few to living
models or masters. Very likely you have
to take that conservative attitude in writ
ing text book. don't know. The old
models have shaken down into their places.
1t is safe to refer 10 them as masterpieces.
Into the world of current fiction your