Evening star., 1927-09-20
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. C.. N.


sing. The Modern Library.
They were talking together as
craftsmen are likely to do in respect
to their common art. Novel writing.
in this case.
And since the discussion took place
something like 35 years ago it cannot
in any exact sense lay claim nowadays
to newness either in substance or eff
feet. 1t offers no original theory of
the novel, no fresh formula to the
novelist. Yet in certain ways the out
look and argument projected here do
belong to the immediate present
rather than to their own date. George
Gissipg himself belongs to the present.
instead of to the one in which h6
wrote. Consider the novels surround
ing his own: Tess of the D'Urber-
villes." The Adventures of Sherlock
Holmes" The Little Minister" over
here the novels of Richard Harding
Davis. Clearly Gissing was out of
place. A rebel in his day-that diff.
terent, denying, protesting thing
which every formaliZed agency from
religion and government down to fads
and fashions finds so unWelcome. so
disturbing, so obnoxious. So, Gissins
had to wait-unhappily till he had
been some time dead--for any stir of
recognition in respect to the quality
of his art, for any considerable read
ing of his novels. Had to wait in
fact, till the tiGe of realism in the
novel had set in more strongly. spawn
ing it's Sinclair Lewises and the ike.
to force common attention to this way
of setting out, in the name of the
novel, the commonplace. the arid, the
dreary. the multitudinous inconse
quences of dull average existence.
Then some one said, We'll. if you
like his sort of thing, why not read
George Gissing? He is better crafts
man than these new young fellows.
Builds better-with foundation and
superstructure purposeful, united.
balanced. effective. And when it
comes TO drabness and dBlor and
futility all brought to bear upon the
human, why. Gissing has these
youngsters beaten to a finish" And
critics began to weigh ard appraise
George Gissing-some for, some
against the man as novelist. hut all
in a measure of agreement as to the
essential genius streakins this clearly
unhappy and pathetic figure. Then
readers of the exclusive and dis
eliminating brand began to read
Gissing. began to find him curiously
in touch with many of the inside
things of human feeling and motive.
began to find him deeply satisfying
as a competent and finished workman.
Not long ago the Modern Library
invited New Grub Street" TO join
it's excellent company. And by virtue
of this act New Grub Street" be-
comes a New Book at Random"
They were talking together as
craftsmen are likely to do in respect
to their common art, novel writing.
At the moment Harold Biffen was
saying to Edwin Reardon: What l
really aim at is an absolute realism
in the sphere of the ignobly decent.
The field, as l understand it. is new
one; I don't know any writer who has
treated ordinary vulgar life with
fidelity and seriousness. Zola writes
deliberate tragedies: his vilest figures
become heroic from the place they
fill in strongly imagined drama. l
want to deal with the essentially un-
heroic. with the day-to-day life of that
vast majority of people who are at
the mercy of paltry circumstances.
Dickens understood the possibility of
such work, but his tendency to melo-
drama. on the one hand, and his.
humor. on the other. prevented him
from thinking of it. An instance, now:
AS l came along by Regents Park
half an hour ago a man and girl
were walking close in front of me,
love making; / passed them slowly
and heard a good deal of their talk
it was part of the situation that they
should pay no heed to a strangers
proximity. Now. such a love scene
as that has absolutely never been
written down: it was entirely decent,
yet vulgar to the nth power. Dickens
would have made it ludicrpus-a gross
injustice. Other men, who deal with
low-class life would perhaps have
preferred idealizing it-an absurdity.
For my own part, | am going to re-
produce it verbatim, without one
single impertinent suggestion Of any
point of view save that of honest re-
porting. The result will be something
unutterably tedious. Precisely. That
is the stamp of the ignobly decent life.
If it were anything but tedious, 1t
would be untrue. l speak. of course.
of its effect upon the ordinary reader"
Reardon protests the feasibility of
such program for the novel, on the
ground that he himself could not do
that kind of thing. Not a complete
reason, by the way. To this Biffen
agrees with. Certainly you couldn't.
You-well. you are a psychological
realist in the sphere of culture. You
are impatient of vulgar circum-
stances" Quite true. and here we
have not only Edwin Reardon. but the
essence of George Gissing himself
But let me go on"-Biffen still
talkins-'I want. among other things~
to insist upon the fateful power of
trivial incidents. No one has yet
dared to do this seriously. 1t has
often been done in farce. and that's
why farcial writing so often makes
one melancholy. You know my stock
instances of the kind of thing mean.
There was poor Allen. who lost the
most valuable opportunity of his life
because he hadn't a clean shirt to put
on; and Williamson. who would prob
ably have married that rich girl but
for the grain of dust that got into
y
or do anything at the critical mo-
ment." And SO the talk goes on, Bif-
fen eXpounding a theory and Reardon
protesting the most of it. even while
it is clear that both of these men
enter into the composition of George
ciissing himself, with Reardon greatly
in this single human
complex.
"New Grub Street" is a novel that |
S carried on by writers--novelists !
reviewers, essayists. journalists. Rear. |
Ion. pursuing a high and remote art |
hat fails of any general acceptance: |
Biffen, writing, 'Mr. Bailey. Grocer" |
me of the ''isnobly decent that was
o serve him as inspiration. Biffen |
lies of disappointment and starvation. |