The New York herald., 1922-04-23

l ~ WI III AioNAi6s wv WAStACl TIC
publishers themselves seem to be in
sympathy with the present tendency
toward the public's desire for ex-
treme realism in fiction and for the
"modernist's point of view."
In answering your first question
we are glad to say that young
Stephen Vincent Benet's 1.-The Be-
ginning of Wisdom" enjoyed the
greatest popularity among our
autumn novels, and we think this
fact may be taken as good omen
toward the reading public's present
point of view. They knew that
Benet had written previously. that
he had shared with Carl Sandburg
the Poetry Society's prize of the
year, and they looked with sympa-
thetic expectancy toward his first
move. It's popularity and wide sale
for a first novel shows at least that
people who read are well informed
as to what is going on in the book
world. its heavy sale on publication
proving chat our publicity had
aroused interest in this first effort
of a young novelist. Its continued
sale proves that readers welcome
sensitive reaction to the beauty of
life. as well as to it's drabness. 1t
has been said that the trouble with
the younger generation is that they
are not generating enough" but we
are glad to say that we will publish
this fall Benet's second novel.
Robert Benchley's "Of All Things
has been our best seller among the
works of non-fiction. 1t is a book
of humor from cover to cover, and
the fact that 1t has BEEN printed
six times and goes to press again
shortly indicates that when anybody
has something to say there are
plenty of jolly folks still in the world
to appreciate 1t.
We think all publishers would say
that they would rather have brought
out "If Winter Comes" than any
other novel, and in view of the pres
ent high cost of manufacturing you
must not blame US in thinking that
to bring out a best seller of such
particular merit would be a great
pleasure from all angles. We think
that THE Mirrors of Washington"
would be our choice Of the works Of
non-fiction which We should most
enjoy publishing. Putnam's pub
lished it in the realization that the
public Outside of regular book
circles" is interested in reading
about people and matters of current
political interest. It's merited sue
cess shows that despite the many
criticisms that have been heaped
upon us from outside in regard to
our lethargy to public affairs we as
Americans are still interested in the
people who carry on these public
affairs and we want to hear about
them from authoritative sources.
You ask If there is any book on
our list that the reading public
seems to have neglected. "Cleram-
bault." by Roman ROLAND, was an
out-and-out war book, rejecting the
reactions of a highly spiritual per-
sonality to the error of war md its
consequences. This book was pub
lished last spring and appeared a, 4
time when all of us were out of
sympathy with books concerning the
war-a very natural reaction. This
fact was evident in the early sale
of the book, which was slow; but as
people read it and realized that its
pacificism was not directed against
nnI1ntrjnc in MI l,,x
urged by an unbiased mind as the
| only solution of our great world
problems, then the public began to
read the book. Its sale at present
is increasing and seems likely to go
on steadily for long time to come
1t is interesting to note Of this book
that one of the Chicago reviewers
hoped that "Rolland's great mes
sage would be translated into every
tongue and become a part of the
convictions of men everywhere" !"
When a reviewer of undoubted au-
thority speaks of a book in this
manner the public cannot afford to
| neglect it..
We published, last spring, a little
book of folk lore called How and
Why Stories" by John C. Branner,
president emeritus of Leland STAN
ford University. We feel that this
little book can be looked upon in the
light of a real discovery, as it tells
us the stories of the creation of the
animals and man from the point of
view of the old negro "aunts" and
''uncles" that helped. in their whim-
| SicaI WAY to hiring I'm Mr. Rrannar