Evening star., 1925-10-28
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

II could be satisfied with Dickens
and Dumas, If l never had another
story to read" she said.
Amid the welter of modern novels,
many will be inclined to agree with
the girl whose judgment is quoted
above.
What a world there is, to be sure,
in the works of each of these au-
thors! Between them they provide
enough fine reading for a lifetime.
Lovers of good stories often find
themselves terribly bewildered by the
flow of modern fiction, hot from the
presses, as many as the leaves on the
trees, and drifting onto the book
stands at this season of the year
much as the leaves come down.
There is IA host OF recognized novel
lists. and an as yet unrecogniZed group
of those writing their first novels "
The Jackets of the books speak in
wonderful praise of eaGh and
every one.
The gamut of laudation is run
through in the "blurbs" There is an
orthodox list of adjectives that are
used for successful novelistS as we'll
as for those who hope to be sue
cessful.
Powerful" gripping" Thought
provoking" intense" "clever"-these
are but Il few of the familiar words
encountered in the advertising of the
books that Clamor for our attention at
81 a look.
They are more than the leaves on
the trees IN number and each one is
admittedly so great how are we 10
know where to start reading, since
we cannot buy them all?
x X
hy,a
is not the best one, IS that of the
young lady quoted.
Pick out a couple, or several, of the
old authors, whom Time has placed
its seal upon, and stick TO them. Fa-
miiiarity does not breed contempt
here. Especially one may pursue this
course II he happens to be that for
tunatc person, one who can read and
re-read the same story
Some cannot do this. To such a
book once read is read forever. The
flavor given by surprise is gone, and
the zest of the unknown lacking Al
most any one can re-read a novel if
he Will give himself plenty of time
between readings.
Each person must be the Judge Of
this Some can read book over again
inside a few months. Others require
year, others two years, ten years.
1t Is all matter of personality.
To be worth reading over again, a
novel must be a little world in itself
II must possess qualities SaVOrinE of
the universe. such a complete account
ing of mankind that mankind itself
seems represented there.
These are the So-called standard
authors" and among them there are
no two greater than Charles Dickens
and Alexander Dumas, the elder. In
these two authors. so wide apart in
many qualities, we find that one great
similarity.
There is a world of Dickens" and
n world of Dumas" but both worlds
unite in a common ability to tell
story, to hold your interest, TO make
you live and breathe and eat with the
characters. to love with them. to suf
fer as they suffer, TO rejoice with their
great rejoicings.
This is the underlying quality that
has made Dickens and Dumas house
hold words wherever books are read.
These are not mere stories. the tales
OF these masters-they are life itself
Perhaps the greatest single differ
ence between a novel Of Dickens and
one of the modern stories that struts
its little hour and then is gone is that
in the one the reader meets the real
thing" in the latter, far too often, he
encounters but thin shadows.
Just how really great writer's man
age TO secure the fiesh-and blood feel
ing with which we regard their char
acters is something that defes analy-
sis. There have been many cold
blooded attempts to put hands upon