The Washington times., 1923-08-22
Of WILDE
|S|NSPECT|NG
MODERNS
Spiritualistic Messages Con-
tain Quality of Biting Com
ment That Marked Author.
BY international News Service.

|
| automatic writing.
While the authenticity of the writ
| ings have been questioned, friends
of Wilde don't deny that the style
| of the messages and even the hand
writing have been very similar to
| Wilde's.
Modern authors are becoming
alarmed, for Wilde7s writings have
been more or less confined to critii
cal and biting comments on the
work Of present-day writer's.
1T may surprise you to learn"
said Wilde's spirit in a recent mes
sage, that I have dipped into the
works of some of your modern
| drawn the whole brew, but tasted
the vintage. You have much to
learn. Time will ruthlessly prune
Mr.. Wells fig trees.
Bennett and Flaubert .
LAS for Mr.. Arnold Bennett, he
is the assiduous apprentice to
literature who has conjured so long
with the wand of his master, Flau-
bert, that he has really succeeded
| in persuading himself and others
that he has learned the trick. But
Flaubert's secret is far from him.
"Of his characters one may say
that they never say a cultured
thing and never do an extraordi
nary one. They are, of course, per-
fectly true to life-as true as bad
| picture. They are perfectly COM
| monplace, and for the Clayhangers,
the Lessways and the Tellwrights,
oblivion will have a plentiful need
of poppy. Mr.. Bennett has under
taken grave responsibility by
l II
| able types in the world.
Praises Eden PhiIIpOtts.
1T is pleasanter to turn to Mr..
Eden Phillpotts, who, unlike Mr..
Bennett, on whose sterile pages no
| flowers bloom or birds sing, has a
real and unaffected love of nature
and, unfortunately, all natures
lack Of variety. He is a writer
who has been very faithful. far too
faithful, to his first love.
Zone wishes that spring would
| sometimes forget to come to Dart
moor.
II feel the London of my time
has been swallowed up; an article
| OF coarse quality is now in it's
place. The women of my time
| were beautiful. from the outward
4
| Gus flow of language, and they add
ed much to the brilliant picture of
society.
Nov the woman is an excres-
cence. She protrudes from So
ciety life as a wart does from the
nose OF an inebriate :"
'sKindIy Toward Shaw. =
What is your opinion Of Bernard
Shawn"
"Shaw, after all. might be called
a contemporary of mine. We had
| almost reached the point of rivalry
in a sense when I was taken from
the scene of action.
II had a kindly feeling toward
poor Shaw. He had such a keen
desire to be original that it moved
my pity. Then he was without any
| sense of beauty, or even a sense Of
the dramatic side of life. and to-
tally without any idea of the out
side Of any human beings, as he
was utterly ignorant of his internal
organs.
'And yet there was the passion
ate warnings to be a parsonage. to
force his person on the London
| world and to press in, in spite Of
the better taste Of those who went
before him.
Respects Shaw's Work.
II have very great respect for
his work. After all, he is my fellow
countryman and we share the same
misfortunes in that matter. I think
he may be called the true type of
the pleb. He is so anxious to prove
himself honest and outspoken that
he utters a great deal more than he
is able to think.
"He cannot analyze; he Is merely
trying to overturn the furniture, and
laughs with delight when he sees
the canvas bottoms of the chairs
he has flung over. He is ever ready
to call upon his audience to admire
his work; and his audience admire it
from sheer sympathy with his de-
light"
Whom do you admire among the
moderns?"
II am not given to admiration, I
fear. But if you ask me sincerely
whom 1 admire among the modern
dramatists, l think there is only one
who has any approach to form and
a sense Of drama. | assure you the
only mind l have entered into which
appeals to my literary sense is John
1dlS"O ne is my successor In
a sense.
HE is the aristocrat in literature,
the man who takes joy in selection
as our poor friend, Shaw, never did.
Shaw plunges in and seizes the first
object his hand can grasp and takes
a wholesome joy in ripping it to
pieces. GalswOrthy is slow in his
selection, but when he selects he
does so from an exquisite sense Of
fitness, and he presents the complete
pattern of his idea ="
Amused by Ulysses"
What is your opinion of ULYSSES
by James Joyce?"
Eyes, ] have smeared my fingers
with that vast work. 1t has given
me one exquisite moment of amuse-
ment. l gathered that if I hoped
to retain my reputation as an intelli-
gent shade open to new ideas | must
peruse this volume. 1t is a singular
matter that countryman of mine
should have produced this great bulk
of filth.
''In Ulysses / find a monster who
cannot contain the monstrosity of
his own brain. The creatures he
gives birth to leap from him in
shapeless masses of hideousness."
Woman Held Up in Cemetery.
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. %