New-York tribune., 1922-06-25

is upOn US with vengeance. ~
u literary London appears TO be
~ infected with H. A friend oi
mine. aged fifteen months, has already
displayed undeniable signs OF pr,l'
lance He should 10 far his parents
savI. before his third birthday. To-
dav seventeen is considered quite
mature age for literary debut, and
Al TWENTY-FIVE the superannuated poet
!, content 10 seintillate in criticism.
He takes the hoor in drawing rooms
and makes the big noise, while CATERS
of thirty-fve (hopelessly pre-war),
listen rather glumly and look forward
TO the rapid approach Of their second
childhood.
The epidemic will. Of course, wear
itself out before long In the mean
time the glamour and glitter OF all
these facile and obstreperous clever
people tend 10 make our lazy reading
public forget the greatness OF those
OF our great men who do not happen
10 be dead. Why read Thomas Hardy
when. BY glhneing at a newspaper para
graph, you can chatter about Robert
Nichols? Why wade through Gals
worthy when IL is so much smarter, so
much more in the movement, 20 dis
cuss the vocabulary OF James Joyce,
On the other hand: why not?
THE LAST few days have seen the
Il publication Of a new volume Of
verse by Thomas Hardy, Late Lyrics
and Earlier" ard the reissue OF John
Galsworthy's chronicles OF the For
syte family in one vast volume under
the title OF The Forsyte Saga" OF
these two great writers-great in very
different degrees-it is easier 20 get a
clear view Of the older figure than Of
the younger.
Hardy towers. a lonely genius, above
all living writers OF English. And
among writer's of English he is, before
everything else, the supreme Enolish
writer. | suppose he Is as thoroughly,
as essentially English as Burns is
Scotch or James Stephens Irish. II
We had an English nationalist move
ment Hardy would be the only possible
president Of our equivalent 20 the
Gaelic League. (Alas, as Shaw has so
often pointed out, We English are the
most oppressed and downtrodden race
on the face Of the earth. We are still
waiting in vain for our Sim Fein
movement which shall revive the Mer-
rie England OF Elizabeth and give US
back our native culture and traditions.
our arts and crafts. our folksongs and
our stolen common landsD
If the English did not periodically
throw up a great mana Shakespeare,
Hampden, Milton, Cromwell, Shelley or
Thomas Hardy--nobody would ever
hear Of them. Their racial identity
would be completely lost-drowned in
an ever-rolling wave of "Britishers.'
PERSONALLY, since I happen 10 be
Of unmixed English blood-an OBJ
scure representative OF an almost sub
merged people, must admit 20
slight distaste for "Britishers." ! am
afraid, also, that | am unsound on the
subject Of empire. Like most interna-
tionalists. my nationalism burns in me
with an almost pscihst ferocity. but il
is different kind Of nationalism from
that which seeks expression in EN-
pire building, commercial wars, forti-
fed frontiers and the jingo spirit.
should like TO see my race contrib
ute rs full quota 20 the culture Of the
world by keeping it's own identity in
violate and preserving its soul alive.
IL is because Of this that believe that
although the fruits Of the genius Of
| Thomas Hardy are for all who can ap-
preeiate them, they have far more sig
nihcance for his own people than they
can possibly have for any other.
II Is 10 he hoped that the publica-
tion Of Late Lyrics and Earlier" and
Of "The Forsytc Saga" and the recent
performances OF Peer Gynt" at the
Old Vic, may have tonic effect on
our tagging sense Of true values. The
clever little people have had far too
long an innings. II is high time they
shut up and let the workmen get on
with their jobs