New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-09-05
Speeded-Up Fiction


The speeding-up Of modern life is
shown not alone in business and So
cial observances. It is correspond
ingly manifest in the work Of the
younger writers of American fiction.
To-day novel and short story alike.
move quickly. Situations develop
with rush and the dramatic ele-
ment sweeps on uninterruptedly.
The narrative must be placed before
readers through constant success
sion Of trip-hammer strokes. No
time can be wasted in pages Of de-
scription, in paragraphs of philo-
sophie reflection. Modern readers
won't stand for it," is the explana-
ton given. They want their fiction
on quick-lunch basis. At any rate,
this seems to be the opinion of most
publishers and almost all Ameri.
cans Of the younger generation who
are turning out short stories and al
legged novels.
In former and more leisure,,y
days characterization, delineation
and development of human life
counted most in fiction. From emo
tions of the heart, from conceptions
of the brain, and from action logical
ly resulting, the incidents and the
situations naturally evolved, with
little perceptible effort on the au-
thor's part. But now the literary
method seems to be reversed.
1t cannot be denied that readers
gain to some extent by the trip
hammer style; that is, readers with
zest for speeded-up life in general.
Yet certain old fogies are fain to
believe that life-in a book or out
of it-cannot be served satisfactorily
in tabloid form. Mrs. Deland, in
,, her earlier stories of Old Chester,
and Thomas A. Janvier, in practi-
cally all Of his delightful tales, sim
ply refused to be hurried, They
took their time in preparing literary
feasts, and to the satisfaction of
readers who could appreciate high
excellence of workmanship. AS for
Mr.. Howells, leisurely treatment,
illumined with shafts of humor, was
of the essence of his workmanship.
Would Americans buy and read
novels written as were many of the
finest and most successful published
fifteen or twenty years ago? 1t is
debatable question. Yet steadily,
year by year, in the United States
has grown the sale of Archibald
Marshalls novels Of English coun-
try life. Even village libraries re-
port that "they are always out"
And Mr.. Marshall writes as easily,
with as little haste and as little of
the artificial, as Howells did. Per-
haps one reason for his popularity
with American readers is that he
deals with people who are delight
full to meet, whether in the pages
of book or in real life. A quarter
of century ago Ripley Hitchcock,
then literary adviser to a large New
York publishing house, lamented the
fact that even then he rarely came
across a manuscript by a young
American writer which dealt with
people of innate refinement, people
accustomed to good society.
"These young writers of ours" he
added, "seem to think the reading
public wants nothing in its fiction
but crooks, actresses, jockeys, and
their adventures. Why don't some
Of them give US few novels about
men and women we like to meet in
our homes and our clubs?"
To a certain extent the situation
mentioned by Mr.. Hitchcock still
exists. How many American au-
thors Of to-day are writing the kind
of novels Archibald Marshall is do
ing in England?