Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-15
WOMAN'S POOR TASTE
DULLS MODERN NOVEL
H. Leon Wilson Says Feminine
Reader Lacks Cultivated
Literary Sense
EFFECT UPON FICTION
Publishers Follow Her Demands to
Detriment Of Books, De-
clares Author

The lack of a cultivated taste in
women readers of fiction Is the cause of
the dullness and nsincerity of American
novels, according to Harry Leon Wilson,
author of Bunker Bean" "Rugsles of
Red Gap" aud many another popular
novel and co-author with Booth Tark-
ineton of several successful plays. Mr..
Wilson was asked by Joyce kilmer. OF
the New York Times, what. in his opin-
ion. was the influence most harmful to
the development Of literature in Amer
lea.
"T know little about literature" he
replied. but IL you mean the novel. I
should say the intense satisfaction with
1t as 1t Is OF the maker. the seller and
the buyer. And to trace this baneful
satisfaction to its source. | should say
IL lies In the lack of a cultivated taste
in our women readers Of fiction.
"The current novel is as deliberately
planned to please the woman buyer as
Is any other bit Of trade goods. We
want says the publisher. "a stunning
girl for the cover and a corking good
| love interest to catch the women.
This love interest is said always TO
be wholesome and sweet | don't know.
/ Certainly II Is sweet enough. In the
trade novel it's as If you took a seq
ment of rich layer cake. the chocolate
/ and Jelly kind. poured over Il a half
pint of nice thick molases, and then.
: just TO make sure, sprinkled this abund-
/ lntly with fine sugar. Anyway. that $
what the publisher has found--and lie
has the best means of knowing that
the American woman will buy year in
and year out. A publisher with ideals
Of his own couldn't last any longer than
a grocer with ideals of his own. or a
clergyman"
Mr.. Wilson says the novelist who
wants to write u best seller this year
wisely patterns his book after the one
which last year found the biggest sale
among women. lie excuses the critics
for not speaking out against such novels
because adverse reviews of books will
not sell. and critics have to eat
People are not going to pay him fol
finding fault with something they ar,
intensely satisfied with" he says. 'I
all comes back to the women. Whet
their taste is corrected. We shall hav,
better novels. But not before then"
Dickens came in for review whicl
will not bring Mr.. Wilson a vote o
, thanks from Dickens clubs. Dickens Il
an inferior novelist. who has proved
blight to most writers who were suscep
tible to his vices" according 10 hi
characterize ton.
Dickens created vaudeville Charac
ters. unsurpassed for twenty-minut
sketches, deadly beyond that TO the men
J tally mature" he explained strip hi
people of their ma ups. verbal. hirsute
sartorial. surgiczj. pathological what no
, and dummies remain Meet them one
2 and you know them for the rest of tn
tale. Each has his stunt and does
/ over and over at each new meeting. Th
, tale must be held up every five minute
for one of the funny characters TO d
I his stunt. A Dickens character consist
. Of funny whiskers, astigmatisn. a short
! ened leg, a purple nose, and still t
!, make sure we won't mistake him,
n catch phrase for utterance, but n
4 soul"
:. The name of Mark Twain brougl
. praise from Mr.. Wilson as he finished
u scathing tribute to Charlie Chaplin. II
was told a prominent humorst had sal
, Mark Twain was not a genuine humor
! list. but Charlie Chaplin of his time.
4 Isn't this, rather high praise 70
Charlie Chaplin" he asked. "How fa
II this idolatry of the movie actor TO gt
anyway? True, Mr.. Chaplin is a skille
comedian, pre-eminent in his curious ne'
! profession. but to my thinking he lack
repose at those supreme moments whe
he is battering the faces of his fello'
7 histrions with the wet mop or tn
8 stuffed club, or walking on their ston
4 achs,
: Il know ! shouldn't have ranked hin
t with Mark Twain, arch humorist an
v satirist, and one Of the few literar
G artists who have attained the worl
e stature--so, that we must go back an
: back to Cervantes to find his like"