The New York herald., 1922-04-30
The World of Letters AS Others See 1t $

Edith Wharton and Joseph Herges-
heimer, so will not speak of them,
only limiting in parenthesis that il
you imagine that Hergesheimer's
art is European rather than Amer
ican you are making the greatest
mistake of your young critical life;
but is it true for single moment
that Cabell, Booth Harrington, Sim
clair Lewis, Sherwood Anderson,
Miss Gather and the others are
passed over here? That their
novels do not command great sales
here is perfectly true. For some
reason the American novel presents
English readers with conditions
that are very difficult for them TO
understand. Part of the difficulty
is beyond question this problem of
the new American language. Take
Main Street" or Three Soldiers"
or "Moon-Calf' and you will find
pages Of those books peppered with
phrases that to nine Englishmen
out of ten are quite unintelligible
When you get to the words of Don
Marquis or Ring Lardner they
might, for most English readers.
be just as readily written in Rus
sian or Chinese. But it is not only
difficulty of language. American
conditions simply have no parellel
in this country. The majority of
Englishmen have not visited the
United States. and many of those
who have been there have pene
trated no further than the wilds OF
New York and Chicago.-From An
Open Letter to 81. L. Mencken" By
Hugh Wdlpole in the "Bookmdn.r
Hawthorne at Home and Abroad.
II AWTHORNE, indeed, succeeded
IL in doing what many larger
genius has never done. he added to
literature a new small perfect
thing, entirely his own, derived
fl om nothing else. 1t was a form,
it was model, it was a style-it
was fusion of these in his writing.
with a scrupulous suppression Of
any turn or thought or phrase that
was alien to them: and the result
woe a hadu of xrartx that Sc &1,or
oughly consistent and original. He
sat aloof in his simply furnished
l:fe, feeding his imagination upon
the mild diet that alone apparently
suited it, turning even petulantly
from richer fare when he might
have had it; and clearly he under
stood the needs of his talent, for it
grew steadily to full maturity and
was never disturbed in its placid ad-
vance. Hawthorne's singular power
and the conditions of his life in
New England were in harmony with
each other: ii was only when he
came to Europe and saw England
and Italy in his later years that he
was vexed and distracted in his fine
srun ruminations. Europe did in
deed give him THE Marble Faun,"
but "The Marble Faun," with its
lapses and its incoherencies is much
the most imperfect of his novels
From the London Times.
The Variety of j. c. Snaith.
IRON any one of Mr.. John Coils
Snaith's novels a new expe-
rience may be expected. His works
are not merely succession of vari-
ations on the same theme, but sue
cessive themes of infinite variety.
Unlike history, the author seldom
If ever repeats himself In one
book he gives us romantic comedy
('Lady Barbarity") in another
comedy of manners ("Araminta"
or Broke of Covenden"O: at one
time ii is comedy of adventure
("The Great Age"): again it may
be realistic comedy ("The Sailor"),
or pathetic comedy Glove Lane')
or. as his latest. downright melo-
drama. With the exception of the
last named, the only repeated ele-
ment is that of comedy. This domi-
nnnt .nAn &c AZ. 1o...s :. .......a. -.