The New York herald., 1922-05-07
BY THOMAS L. MAssON.


heroes and heroines in books
by an alternate process of
analysis and description. which was
started by Samuel Richardson some
TWO hundred years ago. is beginning
to assume alarming proportions. At
the present rate of production in
few more decades there win be more
characters in novels than there are
people outside OF them. 1t is a mighty
poor novel that doesn't have at least
half dozen characters and the num-
Der and productive capacity Of novel
lists are constantly increasing. With
out descending too far into prophecy
or tedious statistics II seems proba-
BILE indeed that in a short time there
will be nobody on earth left but short
story writers, playwrights and novel
lists. Possibly this Is a wise pro-
vision of nature to get rid of them
al. They viii be forced in time to
read one another's S works, and thus
be killed off by process of prema-
face the facts; the creation of char
acters is going on without any ap-
parent let up, the main difficulty be-
ing that they retire from active life
almost as soon as they are created.
They are all there, however. thou
sands of them. all imprisoned in books
that are no longer read; and it is to
the pathetic condition of these unfor-
tunates that I desire to call atten-
ton.
Consider how dreadful is the fate
Of some of these characters in
Eovels who have vibrant voices.
who are reeking with all kinds of
emotions. who pace the floor. blush
ever and anon to the roots OF their
hair. who throw themselves on neat
beds in passions of tears and who.
even in their moments of apparent
tranquility. are constantly engaged
n 'flicking" the ashes from cigar
cites. Ben King once wrote some
verses the burden of which was that
there "is nowhere to go but out"
But even this liberty is denied to our
characters; they must eat out their
hearts penned between covers. with
nobody TO associate with but them
selvesl Is it right thus to create
them and leave them to inger eter-
nally on old book shelves in libraries?
Pickwick and Hamlet still have their
freedom. Pere Goriot, Tom Jones.
Mrs. Malaprop and host of others
are more real to us than reality, be-
cause they are much more stable. In
contrast with these immortals it
would be too cruel to name the
names of those who haye-so far as
the public is colcerned-passed
away within the last year. What is
really the matter with them? Were
they too hastily manufactured? Did
their creators lose interest in them
too soon? And if at least nothing
can be done to bring them back to
life. is il possible for us to invent a
new process OF creation whereby
characters in novels will be entitled
to what the Constitution (however
ingenuousIyi) assures to each one
of us-life, liberty and the pursuit
OF happiness?
II.
The mere finding of names for
them is a painful affair. Dickens
did it by studying the street signs.
Many authors pore constantly over
city directories. Mr.. Galsworthy. for
example, has been hard put to it re-
Gently because he has written so
many books. Probably his last book,
To Let" and some others are about
the various branches of one family
because he couldn't find enough
names TO go round Thus. under the
broad title of Forsyte, he is able
to introduce any number of char
acters. FIeur, Jon. Soames. June and
so on. all Forsytes And certainly
NsSew modern authors know how 10
create any better than Mr.. Gals
worthy. He makes one feel not only
that he knows how 10 write but that