The sun., 1918-10-06
American Literature-What, Again.


ton or term of endearment), it's not our fault
Confident that there is such thing as American
literature and that it is very fair literature at
that, we would 60 reposefully on to the considera-
tlon of how many gasless Sundays would make
smell-less Riverside Drive or how many colds make
an influenza if they d let u.s. But they won't.
Some one, probably ROBERT CoRrEs HOLIDAY,
writing in the Bookman, asserts that "the thing
on which most careful and competent observers Of
American writing are agreed is that we have not
enough well informed and urbane critical clamor-
ers. Until we have some such body of
criticism in this country which will place Ameri-
can writing in its true relation to the real things
Of literature there are no bootsraps strong enough
to lift u.s."
This comedies with the remarks of friend and
reader who wrote us the other day that we lack
competent literary critics and hence have present
literature inferior, in his opinion to that of Eng
land.
Condolences.
The thought is rather appalling. Poor WILL
IAN DEAN HowELLs!'' we exclaimed Poor Mr.
BRowNELL! The poor FoLIETTsl Though they
rarely deign TO write critically on Americans, don't
they'd Poor Mr.. III. W. BoYNToN! Can it
be that these are not competent literary criticsi
Heresy! Is it possible that they are not well in
formed'F No, no! Dare one suppose them not to
be urbane? One may dare to be DANIEL, but
there things one may not dare
And what is a body Of criticism, we specialized
Is it National Academy of Arts and Lettersf Is
it series of essays in the Atlantic Monthly? Is it
an easy chair in the back Of the magazineY Is it
paragraphs in the BO0kmdH? Is it five foot shelf
of booksf Once we saw an account of Dr. ELIoT's
five foot shelf which had been at the mercy of a
headline writer and the headline writer had put
the story four words which still impress us as
being the perfect description of Dr. ELIoT's shelf
Of books. The headline ran: A FiUe Foot Educd-
ton.
There are, by implication, some day to be boot
straps strong enough to lift us. AS we understand
il, no one can lift himself by his own bootstraps.
We suppose the urbane critical clamorers fore
Swallowed by the BOOkmdn writer will do the lift
ing. That will be interesting and rather agreeable
after so much lifting from critical pointed toes
Softies and Circuses.
But We pass on to the painful consideration of
another matter. The Bookman remarked:
p eve have scores of soft speakers, any number
Of three ring performers whose personalities are
more reviewed than the books they write about but
few there are who pass Judgment with real knowl-
edge and discrimination
How are scornfulness and mournfulness blended
here! Who are the soft speakersi And do they
always speak softlyi Perhaps, like certain man
of very wide reading, great range of tastes and
an extremely sound culture they 'speak softly but
carry Big Stick" And, on occasion, use it. A
very excellent occasion for its use offered lately
by no less writer than Mr. ARNOLD BENNETT. We
were advised recently that Mr.. BENEFITS name
was household word in America. We replied that
it is not; but that The Pretty Lady may yet make
his name byword in America. =
Who are the three ring performers? Mr.. How
ELLIS seldom appears but in the one place. Mr..
BoYNToN appears in two or three places; but as he
has good deal of personality it usually goes
around all right. Some of the writers for Books
and the BOok World perform in more than one
ring; most Of them have personalities many Of the
books thew handle have none ANAToIE France