The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-01-23
XIV (contlnued)

was Life! At last! Moreover, it
was Democracy. These young and
able men. having renowned their
earlier socialism, their sense OF hui
NOR recognizing its disharmony
with high salaries and pleasant
living, were hot for Democracy.
Nothing paid like Democracy in
this heaving world. The Democrat.
&c wave rose and roared. Sym.
bolic was this violent eruption of
small town fiction, as realistic as
the kitchen, as pessimistic as Wall
Street. All virtue, all hope. all
idealism, had gone out Of the
world. Romance. for that matter.
never had existed and It was high
time the stupid world was forcibly
purged Of its immemorial illusion.
Life was and ever had been sordid,
commonplace, ignoble. vulgar. i'm.
medicable: refinement was a COW.
ardly veneer that was beneath any
seeker after Truth, and Truth was
all that mattered. Love was to
laugh. Happiness was hysteria,
and content the delusion OF morons
"a word now holly racing "authen.
tic"). AS for those verbal crimi.
mails. loyalty" and "patriotism"-
iecit vomitare.
Their success was colossal.
| Cora Dwight caught the crest OF
! the wave and sold three hundred
| thousand copies of Fools" She
Immediately signed contract with
one Of the. "woman's magazines"
: for the serial rights Of her next
novel for thirty thousand dollars.
and received a corresponding ad.
vance from her publisher. Her
short stories sold for two thousand
dollars apiece, and her first novel
was exhumed and had heavy sale.
Il was dificult to be pessimistic
with a hundred thousand dollars In
bonds and mortgages and the deed
OF a house in her strong box. but
Cora Dwight was an artist and
could always fall back on tech
nique. But although her book was
the intellectual expression Of wild
~ distorted completes. owing to
the Establishments Of war. the
humiliation Of her ego in woman's
most disastrous adventure. and the
consequent repression Of all her
dearest urges. she deserved her
success far more than any OF her
adolescent rivals She had formed
her style in the days Of complete
normally, and not only was that
style distinguished. vigorous and
Individual. but she was able to con-
vey her EXTREMIST realism 30 sub.
tly and yet 80 ambiguously that
she could afford to disdain the
iatrinities Of the younger school. y
A marvellous feat. Most Of them
used the frank vocabulary OF the
humble home. as alone synony.
NOUS with Truth. Never before
had such words invaded the sac
rosanct pages Of American letters
Little they rocked. AZ Mr.. Lee
Clavering, who took the entire
school as an obscene Joke. pointed
out that they were but taking the
shortest cut-advantage Of the
postwar license affecting all
classesAto save themselves the
exhausting effort Of acquiring vo
cabulary and forming style.
The spade as symbol vanished
from fiction.
Miss Dwight r"d her own ideals
little as she permitted her unfortu
nate characters to have any. and
not only was she a consummate
master of words and OF the art Of
suggestion. but she had beer
brought up by linicky parents who
held that certain words were not
20 1e used IN refined society. The
Impressions received in plastic
years were not to be oblitefated by
any fad Of tho hour.
No ono knew. not even her fel
low Californians. that she had hat
| q disastrous love AFFAIR, which has
eliminated in an attempt to muir
der her beautiful sister.in-law
Her book had been Z wild revul
sion from every. standard Of he1
youth, and she loathed love and thu
bare idea of mutual happiness II
fellow mortals a. she recently hat
loathed blood and nth and VA
end German.