The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-04-11
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, D. G..
is AMERICA GOING HIGHBRows


Reading more books and better books
for which q great deal of support can
can found.
The reports of book sales show that
the typical popular novel. sentimental
and romantic, no longer sells in enor-
| nous numbers as it did few years
classes Of books are selling in much
greater numbers than usual. Especial
lY is this true of novels of q better
class, boths domestic and imported. of
technical and vocational books, OF
books about the peace conference. and
the state of the world generally, and
of travel books.
Likewise the Boston public library
recently reported a much larger circu-
lation of books for 1890 than for 1913,
and it also reported that books of
better class were in demand, thus con-
firming what the sales records show.
The American woman is the great
| reader Of fiction. The candy-fed
flapper of a few years ago reveled
| in sugary tales of love and marriage
in which everything was sweet and
beautiful and happy. She had led
soft life, and saw no reason why 1t
should not continue to be a dream of
luxury and contentment. Then per-
haps she went into war work, became
a nurse or a canteen worker, saw
fiance or brother was victim of the
war. If she has an ounce of imagin-
alton, that girls taste in literature
will have changed. Life no longer
that it is complicated and even ter
rible in spots. She wants truth
rather than pipe dreams. And what
is true of her is even more true of
the man who bore part of the
fight, ~ He is not so often a reader
- 10 10 1nd
ally is a sense of the economic and
social problems that burden the hui
man race. He often becomes an
eager reader of books which discuss
these problems, and there have been
many such since the war, a few of
them reaching large circulations-cir-
culations such as books on economics
and politics never before obtained in
| this country.
Changed Men.
The man back from the war is often
| in search OF q new occupation. too.
| His old place is not open to him, or
his ideas have changed; he aims at
something higher This man is an
eager reader of books on technical and
vocational subjects. -
Perhaps the greatest change which
may be noted is that the American
people are no longer so proud of their
own country, and that they, are more
and more willing to read books which
criticise or satirize it. A little glance
backward is necessary to appreciate
the significance and extent of this
| change.
| Americans have always been taught
and have tended to believe that the
United States possesses the greatest
civilization on earth, and that If not
perfect, it is nevertheless nearly So.
| This feeling grew after the Civil war
with the new national consciousness
which sprang into being at that time.
1t grew still more after the war with
Spain, wheQ the United States won an
easy victory over am old European
nation and thereby became a world
Until the last few years, American
writer's have never criticised Ameri-
/ can civilization or American society as
a whole. The tone of our literature
has always been one of self congratu-
1 lation. What criticism we have had
has come from abroad and was very
badly received. Matthew Arnold, the
famous British critic, wrote a very
fair account of American civilization
setting forth its faults with great in
| sight. His book was received with
rage in this country and he was loud
/ ly4 denounced. The same treatment
was accorded a number OF other for
eigners who tried to write their hon
! est opinions of America.
! Now this criticism from abroad has
largely ceased. We have been visited
in the past few years by more foreign
authors than ever before in our his
tory, but most of them have not critf-
cised us at all, and those who have
done so. have used the utmost caution
and politeness. The reason for this is
that We mean money to foreign au-
thors. Lecturing in this country has
become their favorite method pr max
| ing fortune. And the American
| market for their books steadily grows.
Nobody is going to make fun of the
fat boy as long as he has the candy.
The New Critical Spirit.
But the fat boy is beginning to
make fun of himself. Altho most of
our soldiers came back from the war
singing the praises of home, yet some
of them seem to have realized that in
| some respects European civilization is
ahead of ours. Then, too, the disii-
lusionment which has followed the
war, because it did not accomplish
any of the high ideaistic purposes for
which it was ostensibly fought, has
doubtless intensified this critical atti-
| tude. At any rate, for the first time
books have been written by Americans
and read by Americans which eriticise
America sharply and even bitterly.
\ One novel which is a satire on small
town life in America has become a.
seller. Five years ago our novels al
ways represented the American small
town as an idyllie picture of sweet
content. A certain critic, who regards
American democracy as failure and
the American civilization as the most
backward among the great powers,
has achieved since the war, a popu-
/ larity such as perhaps no American
critic ever before enjoyed.
! This same critical tendency has even
penetrated into congress. A recent
congressional report, for example.
points out that America ranks tenth
among civilized countries in its educa-
| tional institutions, and adds that this
| is a sad state of affairs since the sue
cess of democracy depends largely
upon education. Similarly. the reve-
ilations of the draft boards with regard
| to i'll health in this country have been
fully set forth and appreciated in con-
gress.
presents US with a different picture
of America from that which our
| fathers carried in their minds 1t
shows US a country physically great