Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-24
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

the subject might have wished, but
there were aspects enough Of romance,
interest, money success and 50 on, to
enable the writer to turn out an inter-
estipg story In each case.
4
A good biography Is a good story.
Harry Hansen of the New York World
brought this out the other day in his
review Of Brand Whitlock's La Fa-
yette."
1T is a fluent, highly entertaining
narrative of a remarkable life, with its
documentary material 30 thoroughly
assimilated by the author that 1t reads
like a novel,"
Here Is the secret, If there is any Sc
cret. of the good new biographies.
Biography has become flctionized for a
fctionized age, that is all.
Instead OF painfully harassing both
himself and the reader by innumerable
footnotes, which break up the narrative
flow, and constantly nag every con-
cerned, the modern biographer saves all
that for the appendix. If any.
The reader is asked to take a great
deal on faith; that Is why such a name
as that Of Mr.. Whitlock spells convic-
ton.
The success of biography has caused
lI1IlllHlCL q UlC Alhl1~bdhCN "1ADClo W 4uGLA
into the field with the result that SEN
sational handling Of documentary ma
terial has tended to take the place of
honest conservatism, intellectual ma
nipulation Of old documents, honest sur
veys Of opinions Of past writer's.
Yet a wild, "sexy"' viewpoint can
never take the place of diligent. honest
work, when 1t is shot through with some
humor and a proper understanding of
IT, ~I1aA ~ tntnrAet IN turfftnR THE
really successful biographers are those
writer's who have taken a leaf out OF
the journalistic book and have suffused
their mighty men with the common
place interests Of everyday life.
New biographies owe more to the
than most of their writer's
might be willing to admit. The papers
Innate biographies Of the great and
near-great' for years upon years.
Every news story is a bit of biography,
not labeled, but biography none the
less. There is not so much difference,
after all, between the domestic wrangles
which get into the columns Of the news
papers and the world-known till be-
tween Napoleon and Josephine.
Every little story has a meaning OF
its OWn. That Is why the mteIllgent
reading of newspapers by the reader
with a keen eye to- such things is as
interesting as can be. There has been
a fashion, in some circles, to sheer at
the newspapers, on the ground that one
might put the time devoted to their
reading to better purpose, such as read
ing the classics"
1t is questionable. however, whether
the classics are any more interesting
than much that gets into the news
papers. The mass of the public better
understands its newspaper stories than
it does its classics. because its reading
ear or eye is better attuned to the
writer of its news stories.
What naturally interests every one
is what the newspaper writer is trained
to recognize instantly. II he some
times errs on the side Of vulgarity II
is no more than the average reader does,
since life itself is a little vulgar.
The food of biographies. now success
fully disputing first place with the
novel (but in reality nothing more than
a branch Of fction). points 10 the high
watermark OF interest in writing.
Give us a man." calls the public,
but make him interesting! We can
stand him dull, If he was that way,
but you, his reporter, must make even
his dizziness interesting"