New-York tribune., 1922-06-11
A Bookman's Day Book
By Burton Raseoe

mNCh kfeueT sense OF lVim Ahth - -
/ hibited by most OF the more sigrih-
cant Of our present day writers. crane
certainly was q prose fiction artist OF
the highest type, man who achieved
perfection Of form and style. None Of
US had read anything except ne
Damnation OF Thereon Ware" By Fred
crick. none o. US had read all the BOOKS
Of Crane, and ! was the only one who
was acquainted with the work Of Fuller
Bicree, Saltus and Morrow. 10 IS rn-
critical. I think. 10 credit Saltus with
more than certain Byzantine opu-
ience OF style. a glittoring verbal en-
crustation; his philosopy is raudy and
sentimental. his stories the mclodrama
OF the ninctics. Bicrec, too, is prob
ably overratcd by first edition collectors,
although m several stories he achieved
frst-class work. The growing demand
for access bic copies OF the work OF
HeaYn. that del.caiely sensitive prose
artist who grew up in tho miasmic
Atmosphere OF Cleveland and New
Orleans. has resulted in tho announce
mcnt OF collected edition OF ms
work. and Crane is 20 be issued IN q
comp.e.e md uniform edition, while
half dozen men arc e.: work 70 present
on his biography. Tie failure OF Fuller
is A-rder 90 crp.ain. lie is alive he
began ns Disciple OF Stcndha. by
writlnC "The ChcvnIicr or fensieri-
Vani." certainly p more rcndablc book
than "I.A Charl-cuec De Parmc,' more
carefully constructed. richer IN over
tones q sufvc irony; he produced IN
"The Chf pweilers' and With the
Procession" two novels or Chicago
life that are Of exceptional merit. and
Of hss later novels. "Cn the Stairs and
"Rer,rnm Cope's Year" II may be said
thnt. whereas much fuss has been
raised by the co1c!sion OF May sin
clclr's short novel. Tho Life ana
Death OF Harriet Fresn.' these two
novels dispose o. moro difficult themes
via greater economy and win more
lf-tin~.ton OF rtyle.. It IS curious
20 reflect how many OF these men OF
mat generation came 20 bad encs.
Clyse Fitch and Stephen Crane died Of
tho molnutrition they suffered in their
youth: D!crcc disappeared; Pollard. :
e,it vas hidcous. Frcde-ick's death
vas a scandal. and Morrow became a
.e.ip, Of drugs. But, possibly,
asa member OF the old Chicago White
chapel Club once told me. there were
only two things left for sn artist IN
America 20 do in those days-stay
drunk or commit suicide
Went with Charles Macarthur and
Carol Fink 70 Gilman and Hetty
Parker's house in the evening. where
Charley recitcd the epic Of the Camp
Funston hOosegow.
June 4
Ernest povd and I went walking IN
Central Park this morning and every
time we sat down on a rock we were
shooed away by a policeman. a pro-
ceeding which made Boyd indignant
Bovd has Inflammation Of tho nerves
OF the neck and has been ordered 20
take rest for a month. VIC were dis
cussing that curious phase Of literary
cliouedom which nullihcs any chance
OF critical integrity because it ordains
that all the members Of clique re-
frain from criticism Of its members
and attack the members Of other
cliques. That is why ! have never
identified myself with any group sad
BOYD. "All the Joyce idolators, for In
stance, .hink | nm anti-Joyce and MI
.he Joyce enemies think / am Joyce
idolator" Lippmann's piqued attack
on Mencken and my remarks about Il
this morning started the discussion. ]
told Rovd that when I had said much
the same thing In conversation nbout
the Lippmnnn piece, some one asked me
why was defending Meneken after 'hc
article wrote about him in The Lit
erary Review" few months ago, never
suspecting that IL is possible 20 nttcmp.
critical estimate Of a man and a.
the same time defend him from on
attack wherein he IS accused % aims
md purposes he never had ! told
BOYD wanted 70 take up the current
custom, thrice made use Of By Linp-
mann IN his article. q sneering az The
Smart Set" That sort Of thing has
been ovcrdono. The Smart set" de-
srife ignorant opinion 90 the contrary,
"a not mere vehicle FOR Moncken md
I Nathan. Il publishes as high an aver
ace % good Action rs any magazine IN
/ the United States or England. and this
goes for "The Dial" and "Tke Atlantic
Monthly" M we'll as for the rest. The
Smart Set" published the only play
/ Joseph Conrad ever wrote; Il has pub
+ lished some Of the best work Of Ka.h-
, crime Mansfield. James Joyce. Sherwood
+ Anderson. Theodore Dresser, Arthur
Schnitzler. August Strindberg, W. /.
George. D'Annunzio. James stephens.
Maxim Gorky, James Hunekor and
dozens Of others. The first and prob.
ably the best story that T. Scott Fitz.
gerald ever wrote. "Bonediction.' was
published in THE Smart Set" Harvey
| Fergusson's "The Blood OF the Con-
ouerors" ran in the magazine as q
novelette,: Lilith Benda's The End of
lisa Menteith," certainly one Of tho
best short stories ] ever read, appeared
in "The Smart Set" villa Gather
Coming. Aphrodite.' appeared origi-
rally in "The Smart Set" and the cur
rent June issue contains short story
BY Thyra Samter Winslow which i'
wholly and typieally American and
vet is as good as any story By Guy dc
Maupassant I ever read. Barry Bene-
held, Albert Payson Terhune. George
Bronson Howard. Ben Hecht. Willard II
Wright, Harry Leon Wilson, among 9TH
ers. got their first hearing in The
Smart Set"
Encountered Robert Cortes Holiday
and his wife in the park and went with
them 10 the Metropolitan Museum "a
view the collection Of modern wood
cuts. Bob telling me en- route of tho
days when he succeeded Royal Cortis-
soz as literary editor. and how he used
20 write all the stuff himself for tho
whole department
Tonight my wife and went 20 q
party given by John Peale Bishop
and we found there Miss Margaret
Hutchins, Bishops fanoce; Mrs Elinol
Wylie, Miss Esther Murphy. John DO.
Passos and Gilbert Seides Miss Muir
ply. who is the eleverest diseusc 10 has
ever been my pleasure 10 encounter. on
chanted us with witty anecdotes about
and characterizations Of personares here
and abroad. Il - impossible 20 record
brilliant monologue with fidelity. so