Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-15
Literary Rank of Hall Caine
Is Discussed by Americans

question. the most vital that can be
asked concerning any author Expialn-
ing how the masses. in two continents,
acclaimed Hall Game as one of the SUI
preme luminosities on the talleSt pin
nacles of all the temples" the Column
bia IS. c. State says: And he was,
then, and will be for some little space
yet. His day is not passed: his orl
sinking but not yet sunk below earthly
horizons. He gave immense pleasure &c
millions. That is in itself and of itself
a tremendous achievement and glory
We are here, as VIC seem 10 believe. TO
be amused And he that amuses Us
most. him We crown as our King and
Emperor. Hail. Sir Hall-and fare
we'll" With this estimate agrees the
UniontoWn Morning Herald. which de-
ClareS: No one who lived and read
during the time of Sir Hall Gaines
writing activity will be persuaded that
his output did not possess genuine lit
erary merit. He had the knack OF tell
ing story both pCignantly and con-
vincingly. of avoiding both sentimental
mush and dismal homilies. His
work was palpable, hearty, sincere and
ever easy TO read. because he was a
f1rst-claSs story teller who devised first
class stories to tell
x
That Hall Game came to know his
public and wrote what he thought
would appeal to it, is the verdict of
the Lowell Evening Leader. which,
however, thinks 1t is not necessarily
adverse criticism to say that he was a
popular novelist" and comedies that
talent he had above the ordinary for
vivid and colorful, if not eminently
distinguished fiction
Not to be overlooked. in the estima-
ton of the San Francisco Chronicle. is
the fact that he was 1.-The Interpreter
of the people of the Isle of Man. that
interesting island in the middle of the
Irish Sea. once ruled by Danish King
and still boasting constitutional gov
eminent of its own. He carved a place
in literature for the island and its
people" who are described by the
Chronicle as IAN isolated people proud
and God-fearing, living marrying and
working among themselves, speaking
their own language, differing altogether
from their close neighborS on either
side. the Irish and the English. 1t was
the soul of this race the novelist sought
to interpret in the books on which his
reputation was founded" The Chron-
icle pays tribute to his success in this
effort in its statement, To have lifted
a little sea-girt area of not much more
than 200 square miles, with a popula-
ton never much more than $4,000. to a
high pinnacle of literature and world
interest was a writing achievement not
often eQualed."
AS to his place in literature. the Port
Huron TimeS-Herald has this to say:
Certainly the man who can so touch
the great heart of the world that his
books and plays become simultaneously
the talk of two continents can afford
to smile at the labored efforts of the
critics. Hall Game is dead, but Hall
Game lives and will live through the
ages in the men and women he made
real by his pen" So also the Newark
Evening News: "Posterity may neglect
his better known works. but for many
years he rode the crest of the literary
wave. He was a tremendous worker
and his photography is imposing"
In its criticism the Providence Journal
declares that how substantial his ulti-
mate place in English letters may be is
a question that remains to be deter
mined. At the moment, novels of the
type he wrote are out of fashion. There
has always been pronounced dis
agreement among critics as to the merit
of his work. Doubtless an accurate APP
praiSal would place him somewhere be-
tween the two extremes. He hardly had
the element of greatness that his ad-
mirerS attributed to him, nor did his
writing reveal the tawdrineSs that the
more hostile critics alleged" The st.
Louis Times, apropos of the discussions
of Hall Gaines permanent place in lit
erature, exclaims, Hall Caine and his
vogue remind us, as we are so often
reminded, Of Rip Van Wrinkles plain.
tive cry, How soon we are forgotPs