The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-06-02

The view that the war ought 10,
have led TO the production of great
novels is very shallow and shows an
utter misconception of the true prov
ince OF fiction. To blame novelists for
not having written better stories about
the great conflict which has made so
many of US see red is silly. 1t would
be more reasonable for critics to de-
precate the folly of those who try 10
convert it into material for fiction
1t is not the noveIist's function but
that of the journalist to tell the story
OF the war. Even if, on Zola's sys-
tenn, the realist in fiction goes to the
scene where the fighting is taking
place, and not only masters the jarg0n
Of war but sees what actually happens
in the trenches and in NO Mans
Lind" he cannot give US the tragic
background OF this world-struggle.
The poet can write beautiful lyrics
about the war But il is the epic
which win reveal TO the world its
heroic proportions-and that can
scarcely be written until the smoke
and the thunder of battle have passed.
Some novels of more than ordinary
nerit have, in fact, been written about
the war. One is The Four Horse
men of the Apocalypse by. Vicente
Biasco Hanez, gifted Spanish writer.
who gives us a glimpse of France
before the battle OF the Marine. An
other is "Jamesie" by Ethel Sidgwick.
refinement and power. But in these
hooks character is dealt with as more
important than the war. And so 1t is.
The business OF the novelist is to
depict human nature. This he must
dc not as a philosopher or as q
scientist" but as story-teller. do
not accept Professor William Lyon
Phelps definition OF novel as "a
good story well told" But freely
acknowledge that, If it be not story.
lit cannot be called novel" Even
tTristram Shandy," one of the master
pieces of English fiction, is a genuine
story, in spite of the fact that We are
Kept vainly waiting while we read
hundreds of pages for the hero to be
born. There are many digressions,
but the author always takes up the
| thread Of his narrative with consum-
nate art.
| Sterne knew something about the
realities OF war. He was the son of a
captain OF the English army and was
born in the town of Clonmel in the
south of Ireland where his fathers
regiment was stationed at the time.
He was a clergyman himself, and not
altogether an edifying one, as his
Letters to Eliza"-highly suggestive
letters addressed to married woman
will show. But his genius was of a
rare order. Both humor and pathos
Ee possessed in very high degree.
He was indeed a naughty man"
There are passages both in .'Tristram
Shandy' and "A Sentimental Jour
iney" which even / could scarcely read
again without blush.
/ But somehow We must put up with
| the "naughtiaess" Of genius, for. If we
| Comstockize it take the liberty OF
/ coming that word, as George Bernard
Shaw has used the neologism Com
] stockery' may never find those
/ precious things imprisoned in uncon-
ventional books as the pearl is in the
oyster
It was Sterne who gave us the i'm
mortal portraits of Uncle Toby and of
Corporal Trim. They had both served
/ in Narlborough's wars, but their mill
/ tary experiences are only memories.
Each has wooden leg, and each,
even in this mutilated condition, is
! enjoying the blessings of peace.