New-York tribune., 1922-10-01
An Editors Sound Advice
By Grant Overton

have ever seen. The emphasis In all upon
the resader. your Readers aEolding
the Reader Pleasing the Reader. are
some OF the chapter headings. THE
feditor Of Adventure shies at ruleg:
1 he gives few and then warns against
aii OF them. He believes In something
ne calls the illusion": les more nc
Ho~cailed fiction teachers present feebIv
, as atmosphere The fiction teachers
sag that atmospheric is vital. Hoffman
| INSISTS that what is vital is that the
reader shall breathe and keep breath
| ing. And with heartless manner he
pouncas ON the things writers do. the
sfmpless, sllliest things they are always
CONG to stop the readers breathing.
20 destroy the very Illusion they have
created and must maintain II they
aren't to fail.
Ihings that distract, such as weird
names for tictional characters: ti,ines
that peiog ctearness~~too many charnc
ters, dialect sprees-~are the meat NJ
this book. Suspense, restraint. sur
prises, confused dialogue, lost unity. nm
aiiferentiated characters are the brass
lacks drawn TO the attention of tho
thousands who soiH write when they
really addressed, and to no one else. II
could be OF no possible use to any one
%no knows how TO write---a Dangerous
comment, as all of those who eorslv
need 1t will promptly conclude they
don't, This much, think. fairly de-.
iines the books character; but il 1t
ISL unfair or wholly uninteresting we
nilsht gIance Tor moment at Hoffman
himsslf, the evolved editor.
He says of Joseph Conrad. sT am
Conrad fam but consider him. compa ra.
siVely speaking, a poor workman, though
q great artist. Here we have sinpIi-
eity OF words but not of expression in
a general sense. ] do not by any means
| fully understand most of his stories.
and find that others are about equally
ut sea II they are honest or are cross
| examined In most of the Qualities
that make great ficsouist he stands
IN the front rank, but he is lacking in
/ corresponding ability to simplify and
clarity his thought, to make the proner
| abstraction and selection of thought
expressions. His content and gifts are
so rich that even only part Of them
! registered on readers is sufficient to
rate him master, but the fact remains
that ne conveys only part of what
he has to say"
Certainly definite and interesting
verdict, And Hoffman has the distinc-
tIon OF being one of the few editors who
navy sefiailZed conrad. he did it
during the year in which he edited
Romance" Conrad's "Thc Rescue"
had been peddled all over New York
and everywhere turned down. Hoffman
| took it and cut not ono of Its 147000
words He also ran serially Edgar
Lee Masters's "Mitch Miller.'' These
two instances are enough to establish
him. at least with the initiated, al u,
curiously independent. not to say
courageous, editor-with an amount Of
initiative few editors will exercise. He
simply can't see art Tor art's sake, and
he believes in the action story and ne
thinks style should generally retain
something OF the extreme adaptability
1t exhibits in Shakespeare. ! hope the
million will read his book, but suspect
they'll merely continue to hurl their
hopeless manuscripts at him. No man
| alive is more certain TO treat 'em
/ right