Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-29
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRAcEWELL.

bounce from mothers mahogany dining
room table.
One of the earmarks Of the new
biography, now on the wane, was deal
ing summarily with the birth and child
hood of the subject. This was q re-
action against the old style life" which
usually began. THE subject of this
sketch was born on a farm near Cross
Roads, Wis. June S, 1773."
But in attempting to wean biography
from being wooden, those who fondly
patted themselves on the back for not
| being "old-fashioned" leaned too far in
the opposite direction. Despite the fact
that modern psychology places great
stress on the first six years of life, these
nobby new biographers, almost to a
man, let their subjects down without
committing the terrible crime of being
''old-fashioned."
1t was old-fashioned to tell about
Napoleon playing soldiers with his
mates; one might give q playful glance
In that direction, but our hero mostly
arose into life like Venus from the sea,
full formed. These biographers loved
to think of themselves as treating "the
man." such wording often being used
as a subtitle in the heyday of the
new" biography.
ing so valiantly to "de-bunk" their sub
jects they were creating new myths by
representing their heroes as being Just
little different from all other men.
BY creating this atmosphere, or at
tempting to create it, they rather mag
nif1ed their own astuteness for selecting
such q theme.
This sort of ballyhoo fooled the
still fooling some of the readers. But
the signs in the publishing wind show
that the tremendous vogue for biogra-
ply Is losing some of its force, and that
In few years this branch of writing
VIII resume its normal place.
The one outstanding contribution of
the new" biography to an old art was
IN making story out of the life of a
man. Too many of the elderly elves
went on the assumption that depart
ed great man lived only in musty docu-
ment, in letter files, in state papers.
Go read the lives of George Washing
ton by Washington Irving. by John
Marshall. Research plays a large part.
too large part. They aimed to treat
their subject seriously, and they sue
ceeded But 1t is a question whether
they did not hold him too steadily in
severe light.
Inc newer approach to biographical
writing attempted to rectify this mis-
take by certain gracefulness of ap-
proach based upon the conviction, held
by writer and reader alike, that a hui
man life, If one could know it all. was
a story almost of novel proportions.
Often this mental attitude approached
TOO close to levity. But it is to the
credit OF many writer's that their work
succeeded In calculating the old maxim
that there is at least one novel in every
man.
The so-called new" biography threw
a searchlight on its victim, or a spot
light, rather, hoping to catch the man
In one of his wilder moments. Some
times 1t did, but the average reader
often had better sense of sportsman
ship than publishers gave him credit
Tor. He felt as he read, What right
has any one to divulge these things.
even granting that they are interest,
ing" So the new" approach over
snot its mark and proably has suffered
the reaction. There will be biographies
In the future, it is safe to say bit they
VIII be normalized, decent treatments
OF human beings. Many of them no
doubt, will begin, as lives usually do he
gin, with a statement of birth.