The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-22
Why Authors Go Wrong.

to answering which book might adequately
be devoted and perhaps We shall write book
about it one of these days but not now. When, as
and if written the book dealing with the question
will necessarily show the misleading nature of Mr.
ARNOLD BENEFITS title The Truth About an
Author-a readable little volume which does not
tell the truth about author in general but only
what politely requested to accept as the
truth about ARNOLD BENNETT. Mr. BENNETT may
may not be telling the truth about himself in
that book: his regard for the truth in respect of
the characters of his fiction has been variable Per
haps he is more scrupulous when it comes to him
self, but We are at liberty to doubt it. For a man
who will occasionally paint other persons-even
dictionary personals worse than they really are
may not unnaturally be expected TO depict himself
- somewhat better than he is
We must not stay with Mr. BENNETT any longer
just 1t is enough that he has not been content
to wait for the curtain to rise and has insisted on
thrusting himself into prologue. Exit and let
Us get back where were.
We indicating that Why Authors Go Wrong
is an extensive subject II is so extensive because
there are many authors and many, many more
readers Ii is extensive because it is a moral and
not literary question, human and not an artistic
problem. II is extensive because it is really
answerabe and anything that is essentially unan-
swerable nccessateS prolonged efforts to answer il,
this on the well known theory that it is better that
many be bored than that a few remain dissatisfied
What Is Going Wrong"2
Let us take up these considerations one by one.
II seems unlikely that any one will misunder-
stand the precise subject itself What exactly, is
meant by an author going wrongf The familiar
euphemisrn, as perhaps most frequently used is
anything but ambiguous. Ambiguous ounding
words are generally fraught with deadly and
specific meaning another illustration of the etcr-
nal paradox of sound and sense
But used in the instance of author, going
wrong has a great variety of meanings. An author
has gone wrong. for example when he has de-
liberately done work under his best; he has gone
wrong when he has written for sentimental or
aesthetic reasons and not, as he should, for money
primarily; he has gone wrong when he tries to
uplift or educate his readers; he has gone wrong
written enough books has written too fast not
fast enough, or has written what he saw and not
what he felt, or what he felt and not what he
or posed in any fashion whatsoever.
EZRA PoUND, for example, has gone atrociously
wrong by becoming French Decadcnt instead of
remaining a son of Idaho and growing up to be an
American. OF course as a French Decadent he will
always be a failure; as BENJAMIN DE CAssEREs puts
it, the reality underlying his exquisite art is bour
geois and American. He is ghost materialized by
cunning effects of lights and mirrors.
Two Notable Examples.
Mr.. RoBERT w. CHAMBERS went wrong in an en-
tirely different fashion. The usual charge brought
against Mr. CHAMBERS is that he consented to do
less than his best because it profted him. This is
entirely untrue. Mr.. CHAMBERS s one mistake was
that he did not write to make money. Every