New-York tribune., 1922-04-23
Book Number of The Tribme--News and Comment
Backscratching as an Art
BY Ben Hecht

splre us with desire ,o nros.,,..
w correct We have no interest in tho
so-called intelligent 10 per cent. Thc;,
hes and distortions are artificial
Their culture like our own il a minor
pose and unimportant.
Ihere are several kind. of noveNst,
There IS one kind that have devoted
themselves adroitly to plumbing the
soap-bubble worlds Of their dav dream.
Ihls type is commonly referred to A.,
the hack writer, the pot boiler. Thev
are not novelists but panders to tn.
evaporating ones who like their d.v
dreams made real for moment IN
books they read
Another type of novelist j. tho one
that seeks to understand the things he
hates. And in seeking to understand
them comes close TO them and gradu-
ally writes Of life and people as man
might caress his crippled children.
Tins type Of novelist is cxempliiied bv
such men as Sherwood Anderson.
There is still another type Of nov
elist who deals neither in plots nor
characters, but in ideas. This i. the
novelist commonly called critic. Al
his best this type is the equal Of tho
other and often the superior. He IS
one who makes no compromises with
the public taste-meaning the inability
OF the public to digest ideas unless
those IDEAS are sugar-coated with
drama-and devotes himself to tho
great plot the disclosures Of the hu-
man mind
THb intellectual minority able to
appreciate books Is by-product
that has nothing to do with tho crea-
ton Of books. The enjoyment Of this
minority is phenomenon that proves
nothing. Art and literature mean
nothing to tho world Bad art and
bad writing are important They func-
ton as species Of drug, an antidote to
reality, refuge from routine But
great art is always dead.
The great books that exist in the
world stand as white, silent monument.
over the graves of great egoists. And,
like monuments, they cannot be used
or inhabited. We may admire them, If
we belong to the minority. But our
admiration OF them does not improve
the race Great books remain aloof
and unvanishing. They exercise no
influence upon the world.
1t is ridiculous to assert that great
works Of art have Influenced the world.
Art continues to flourish; it's monu-
ments to pile up. And in the face Of
more and more great books and great
works of art the public taste says from
generation to generation. In the fac.
of more and more sapient philosophies
the public mind continues from genera
tIon to generation to embrace the mex
haustblc variants of error and stu
pidity.
People to-day adore the movies, and
The art Of the movies is to-day be-
meath contempt. They are, as Bur
ton Rascoe once wrote, fit for children
seven or eight years old. And vet
people ego mad over them" Three
thousand years OF artists, all working
overtime, all burning themselve. up in
thc production Of beauty ard truth.
have produced a generation that goes
mad over the movies.
4 DEFINE the business OF novel writ
ing az q species Of self-reproduc-
ton. as biological if not as necessary
IS race production. An egoist bears
an offspring whose parentago he shares
with no one and whose existence re-
mains monument to his ego.
An cgost does not relish the Idea
Of his monuments running around and
mingling with other monuments and re-
producing itself over again. He rather
fancies the idea Of his monument re-
naming as he produced it-and con-
tinuing to shine forth as an ironic and
aloof reminder Of the fact that a great
soul once inhabited the earth.
Courtesy Of The Chicago Daily
News,')