Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-11
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

The most unfortunate reader Is h
who develops q spleen against certain
! authors.
We say unfortunate, because he de
prives himself Of the fortune Of happi
ness and interest which might otherwise
| await him.
ments of life.
Reading is an ancient habit, yet 1
manages to hold its own very well IL
the face of the competition of the au
tomobile, the radio, even the "wilc
party"
So many authors have written, sine,
the world began, and so many work.
been printed, since the invention o.
art, that it is impossible for every reader
to care for every author.
One man will not like Browning, an
other will not care for Longfellow, {
third will read Conrad but dislike Kip
ling, fourth be enthralled with ZolS
but immune to Dickens.
These dislikes are natural; they arr
not what we mean when we speak o.
spleens against certain authors.
No. the spleen is species Of positive
hatred, and is a very different state o.
mind from that of the reader who sim
ply has his likes and dislikes.
X 4 X
Perhaps the open mind" best ex'
plains the necessary attitude TOWARD
various authors and their books, If ont
is to get the most from the vast sun
Of literature which awaits the modern
reader.
To have an open mind means, frs
of all, that one will be willing to admit
good when he finds good. 1t is amaz
ing how many persons there are whC
early divide their minds into water-tigh
compartments and thereafter stead
tasty refuse to permit any inf1ltratlor
of ideas from one to another.
If they do not like Dickens" what
ever that may mean, they shy from
Dickens as if he were absurd, his tale:
inane, and his work totally without
merit. Now, such an attitude Is ash
nine, on the face of it. Charles Dicken;
has entertained too many millions o.
readers for any one to adopt such
way of looking at his novels.
What If he does lack the precise abili'
ties and charms of some other authors
His merit is that he was himself, anc
that his characters, whether one pre-
fers to regard them as cartcatureS o.
not, have entered into the very Language
and thought of the world.
Just as we were writing the above
paragraph a fellow worker in the grea
newspaper world turned from his desl
suddenly, and asked, ut was Mr.
Micawber, wasn't 1t, who was Away!
waiting for something to turn up?"
Dickens still enters into the affairs o
men, and always will, no matter wha
any one chooses to think or not Il
think of his various novels, their situa
tions, characters and so on.
To close ones mind resolutely to hi
masterpieces is to cut ones self OF
deliberately from some of the creates
books ever written. Yes, they lack TIT
naive honesty Of some OF the grea
French novels. They are not as true
to life' as hundred various works ont
might name offhand. But what Of 1T
Verisimilitude is but one of the quail
ties which go to make a great work o.
fiction. There are many other qualities
and Dickens has some of them.
How much better an attitude It is
we submit, to try to find out why mil
lions of people read Dickens, by the sim
pie process of picking up one Of his best
say 1.-The 'Pickwick Papers" and read
ing it.
That Is an action which may be rec
commended to all those who have de
veloped a spleen against Dickens. You
say YOU don't like Dickens, but how dt
YOU know you do not? Perhaps you Wer'
a child when you came to that unfor'
tunate conclusion. Surely 1t Is . mis-
take for any one to hold so steadfastl!