The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-14
The Great Producers OF Hamm ock
Novels.

~ summon NohsChl lHc
season Is the time for light reading
and by unanimous consent light read
ing is regarded as synonymous with
fiction. A hammock swung on n We
randa, or better still, between two
trees on shady lawn, is likewise the
proper concomitant.
Just why such accessories should
be deemed necessary to the enjoy.
ment of novel is not quite clear, but
our writers Of fiction always indicate
some such scene of dolce far niente
as this that their heroes and herolnes
choose when they go on an excursion
into dreamland with the novelist rs
conductor. Possibly by such sugges-
tons they indicate the proper circum-
stances and mood for the enjoyment
Of their stories, and 1t would be a
fitting stage setting for the reading
OF the pleasantest of them--JANE
AUsTEN's novels, for instance
though our novelists with n purpose
and bent on photographing and ana
lying society would probably insist
upon library with books of refer
ence at hand as the place where their
masterpieces would most fittlngly be
assimilated.
As regards the vast majority of
novels, especially by the more volu-
minous writer's, 1t is quite evident
that they were not written under
such pleasant circumstances, could
not be, in fact. The very number of
books their authors produce indicates
that fiction writing. in their cases,
Mt least, Is well organized industry,
Of whom ANTHONY TRoLLoPE, who
wrote so many thousand words a day
and timed his output as carefully as
though it had been produced under
an eight hour law, was the master in
the Victorian age.
But as regards output, even An
THoNY TRoLLoPE has been surpassed
by CHARLES GARvICE, novelist, poet,
dramatist, journalist and lecturer.
who in less than sixteen years placed
more than hundred novels to his
credit. or discredit, MS the reader may
decide. And even the Garvice record
was broken by the lady who wrote
over the signature of l.. T. MEADE
and who produced some two hundred
books in thirty years: stories for
young folks, novels for grOwnups,
and perhaps some books for those
who never grow up. Her fame was
wide in England, but 1t scarcely sur
vived the voyage across the Atlantic.
Miss BRADDoN, famous as one of
Queen NICToRIA's favOrite writer's OF
fiction, was the author of about
one hundred novels, and in her case
her fame survived the sea voyage and
the Seaside Library of the past CEN
fury enrolled her as one of its star
producers. Some of the Braddon sto-
ries are even yet pleasant reading for
a summer day, IL one chooses to step
back through the door of fiction from
the troubled present into the calm of
the nineteenth century.
OF other writer's who seemed TO
work industrlously for the benefit of
the summer reader the Rev. s. Barring
GOULD occupies higher niche In
fame than GARvICE or L. #. MEADE,
and perhaps even Miss BRADDoN. He
placed to his credit more than half a
hundred novels, all of them readable.
and in addition numberless volumes
on a wide variety of subjects. But
even in his case, 1t Is probable, the
average well informed reader of to-
day would not he able to name more
than one or two Of his novels or other
books, and knows him, II at all,
chiefly as the author of the hymn,
Onward, Christian Soldiers. or "Now
the Day Is Over" which will keep
his name and fame long after his
other productions are forgotten.
OF course, America has or had many
novelists, such as the late AUGUSTA
JANE EVANS or the present Mrs. BARR,
who in output might challenge even
some Of the prolific English writer's
we have mentioned. But most of our
American novellsts, fortunately or I'M
fortunately, as the case may be, do
not rival the prollficness of MEADE.
GARvICE or Miss BRADDON. Few of
them have half hundred novels in
~" Vet of their Action productions.