New-York tribune., 1919-10-25
The Tug of Titles

The views of your contributors anent
titles awakened a responsive chord in
my bosom. | have always perronally
been great believer in titles which
carry suggestions of big picture to
tHo r"aaer's mind and which draw one
inside the covers of book willy-n nilly.
Ships That Pass in tie Night" in
evitably brings to mind the three other
roves that enjoyed an unprecedented
vogue at the time that Beatrice Har-
raden's work was at the height of its
"Dodo: A Detail Of the Day" Sarah
Grand's "The Heavenly Twins" and
The Yellow Aster." the name of whose
author has escaped me. Cons idering
that at first blush the title of "The
Heavenly Twins" seemed to mack so
strong'y of religion, it is astonishing
that it achieved the success it did
Titles conveying an idea Of things
sacred or rcligious are enough to make
a book taboo with a very large class Of
readers who have in all probability
card indexed themselves as "libcrals"
o. course "The Yellow Astor" is 40
surprise; any one with the slightest
Imagination can me the faint aroma
and feel the romantic touch of q deli
cate past that must Of necessity haunt
the pages bearing such a title. "Dodo'
to m, is a mystery, except that it hr
explained by the aliuring ALTERATION
these novels is great or worthy, and
yet tie four of them always bring back
to me tie glamour of the early '90s
with it's balloon sleeves. tandems and
"Godey's Lady's Book" with the ad-
vertisemcnt OF Pears Soap on the in
side cover page, all ha oed in The mem
ory as relics of vanished golden age
Other titles Of books which sold we'll
into the millions puzzle and perplex.
"David Harum" seems to have nothing
to recommend 1t outside of a certain
hand, the "Harum" part of it invariably
brings to mind "harum- -sca,um." with
its attendant connotation of ire espousi-
bility-not the best invitation in the
world for novel, How much more
full of meat are some Of Tarkington's
happily chosen titles, giving just the
/ per impression of the contcn.s:
Monsieur Bcaucaire," "The Gentleman
From Indiana and "Seventeen"! Jack
London. too. had TIE knack Consider
his Call Of the Wild modelled on the
same theory as Weyman's "House OF
the Wolf," his "Valley of the Moon"
When God Laughed" How f. for the
blooded elemental tales Of adven-
ture he excelled in The only other
author that comes to mind who ranks
with London in picking title is Al
fred Ollivant, whose Bob, Son Of Bat
tle," is q clas sic both as to title aad
story.
Scheherazade was no amateur when
she christened Arabian Nights" if she
It was who performed the ceremony
The name always and forever will
-oI -,
tic beauty of the Orient the cinging
odor of incense, the jeweled turbans,
sandawood and myrrh Of Samarcand
and Bagdad. The Castles have caught
the perfume Of its atmos sphere in their
title "Rose of the World" which the
last gasp of genius pinned on futile
and badly written tale
Of the moderns, Susan Glaspell has
splendid faculty for choosing titles
8 witness, The Voice of the People,
and "The Glory of the Conquered"
which strike the note of triumph, an
unfailing appeal to the oh. so gentie
reader When I get time / am goins
to write three novels in one summer
on vacation In the Blue Mountains,
and l have already framed the titles,
so the stories may be considered
started The three names are "Waste."
THE Exile" and "The Little Forbidden
Things" Wien get through with
these will use the fag end OF the
vacation to write poem about a singer
who ended her recital with "a note so
hign it was lost in the halls Of song"
This, with reference in the first
stanza to ''the great. broken heart OF
the world" will probably constitute an
epic and shall expect quite favorable
rcviews. Anyway, this ought to en-
title me to copy OF "Waifs and
Strays." the latest o. Henry. and a
iurther reward for not mentioning the
Iatters name. L. c. c.