The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-06

~ NICE the days of Sister Carrie" N Jennie Gerhardt," and ''The E> Genius" when the world and his wife shrugged his shoulders and pulled the daintiest of skirts aside and declared Nr Dreiser to be quite "outre" and the libraries all but refused admittance to their clasic shelves to these erotic books, Mr. Theodore Dreiser has been go- ing on and on writing "queer' things as the dilenantes declare seemingly un- concerned about publication and MT. Dreser.
 Under the date of Sunday, May 4, 1913. find in my scrap book relative to MT. Dreiser's then) latest book, the follow ing:
 Just how naughty a book Theodore Dreiser's novel, "The Genius.' really is -or whether the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice hasn't been mis- taken cruelty in supposing it to be naughty at all-was argued at length before the appellate division of the su- preme court Wednesday m an effort to arrive at a decision which will lift the embargo preventing the sale of that emi. nent work"
 Following up the "stir'' that the sell ing of 5000 copies of 1.-The Genius ere ated "Merton Stark Yewdale comes forth with "a story about MT. Dreiser throw ing some light on the "inscrutability of the man who has been called the greatest of Americas "realists," saying: ::
 ''In a humble apartment in Green wich village, New York, lives Theodore Dreiser one of the greatest thinkers and novelists of America. Almost any day he may be found there pondering upon the problems of the world and it's people, and from time to time commit ting his thoughts to paper. Where many of our more popular writers have their town and country homes, Dreiser secludes himself in an obscure abode in the Latin quarter of America
 Upon entering the apartment one mo- tices that the ceilings high and the few pieces of furniture old-fashioned. The black marble fireplace is of an ancient design, the floors are bare, and the whole place seems to be an abode of great spaces.
 On the walls are hung paintings (some by himself) by painters of the ultra modern school, and in the front room, where he does his writing. are longtlines of book shelves filled to overflowing. There is a pronounced absence of any desire for physical comfort, and the very atmosphere radiates the aggressive, critical intellect of the man.
 Probably no living American writer has been so much written about as Dreiser, and yet he remains as in- scrutable as ever. Some writers who have never seen him have attempted to interpret him from his books, while others who have met him have comI mented at great length upon his eccen- tricities. But neither his writings nor his peculiarities wholly explain the man.
 Perhaps we may get a cleW from his friends But no he has none in the strict sense. He is as wholly detached from human association as one can be. Ex- cept among those he knows well. Dreiser is shy, diffident and i'll at ease, and protects himself by brusqueness of almost to boredom
 He lends, but never gives himself to an occasion, and stands apart watching, analyzing and comparing His face gen. erally has the heavy, languorous appear ance of the man of genius. and the keen eyes are ever alert. darting hither and thither for new knowledge of life, which is immediately pigeonholed in the mind for future use.
 hllt, nj fv he world, except so far as they yield up from time to time the solutions to his problems. He belongs to no race. time nor country. and though he lives in the world. he is not of it. He sits and watches and writes while the pageant of life passes before him. and wonders for what purpose the universe was created. All of which brings us to MT. Dreise- who inthe midway of this, his mortal life. having found himself astray and gone from the path, uttering the curious onomatopoetic cry. which is the title Of his latest book.
 Hey Rub-a-Dub-Dub. (Boni & Live right Qnc.). PublisheN. New York City). One of MT. Dreiser's reviewers" says of this exclamation:
 'Rey -Dub-Dub" is the very op- posite of the syllable 'Om, which. re- peated by the Yogi over and over lands him in Nirvana. where the human race ceases from troubling and suppressed desires are at rest.
 MT Dreiser's ejaculation is one of weariness. puzzled weariness- It IS American for voltaires Why Is Any thing?' and Montaignes What Do l Know" MT. Dreiser has pondered on everything from the birth of Brahna to the Lusk raiders: he has digssted his-