Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-18
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEwELL.

A reader politely takes US to task
for saying that The Lightning Con-
ductor," a best seller of yesteryear, was
written by the Castles" rather than
by the rightful authors, the William
sons.
Well, it only goes to show how
quickly the so-called best sellers pass
Knighthood Was in Flower" quick,
now, the author.
There will be little hesitancy, how
ever, as to who. was the author Of THE
Pickwick Papers" or Of Vanity Fair. "
The question Of the best seller al
ways has been q puzzler, both With
writer's, publishers and the great read
ing public.
II authors knew invariably how to
write books of great popular appeal,
there is some question whether they
evsp would write any other kind.
If publishers infallibly could pick the
winners, especially in the fiction line,
there would be no other books pub
lshed perhaps. No one could blame
them.
If readers were quite sure that only
best sellers" would please them, they
would read nothing else.
~
The trouble is that often the popu-
lar book is not the book for the indi-
vidual reader.
Every one who aims to keep up with
the new books" misses few of the
best, and there are thousands Of read
ers who make no particular effort to
keep pace either with the old or new
books.
They read to please themselves,
which, after all, Is the one best way
to read, after one has reached years
of discretion.
Then there are hundreds Of readers
bona 1ide readers, too-not bluffs-who,
for the life of them, cannot remember
the names of authors, or take no in
terest in their names.
This is a state of mind that we have
never been able to understand (hence
all the more reprehenSible Is our slip
up in connection with THE Lightning
Conductor').
The knowledge Of an author some
how seems an integral part Of a book
It Is difficult to understand how any
stinctively looking for the author.
Surely q book title carries with 1t
the writer's name, as surely as 1t car
ries q plot, If it Is q novel. Every one
knows that there Is a certain dissatiS-
faction felt by the average reader in
the face of an anonymous book.
Every one Is glad at last when the
pen name is cast aside and the true
author stands forth for who and what
he is. This is as 1t should be.
Every one recognizes the essential
solemnity of authorship. Even light
works are seriously enough written, as
witness Alice in Wonderland"
X
Yet there are any number of really
serious readers who seldom stop to
bother about an authors name. Ask
them the name of the book they are
reading, they will be able to give 1t
to you, but question them concerning
its author, they will put you of with
some such remark as "Oh, have for
gottenl" or IT don't know"
We submit they are making mis-
take. One may look at painting for
instance, without caring a whoop about
the artist, but the enjoyment of the
canvas Is increased a hundredfold by
some proper knowledge of the painter
his other works, his habits, etc.
It Is exactly so with writer's, and 1t
is much to the credit of the majority
of readers that they have a great in
terest in them. This not only BENEFITS
authors, but, above all, adds TO the in
tereSt Of readers.
From one standpoint there Is no re-