Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-22

[ BOOKS Sul1eE iEOuA bALSSS iCobiACeAAlB
? influences, magazine suffer still more,
] the films suffer most. The author
/ knows that when he serializes a novel
| in a magazine he is more likely TO en-
! counter an invitation to cut something
out of his text than when he pub
| fishes in book form And if a film
company buys the story which did get
printed in the magazine, he knows that
before IL reaches the screen 1t will be
changed beyond recognition. He feels
that here he has a very real grievance.
He refuses to believe that the audiences
! for books, for magazines and for the
films are Of such utterly different men,
| tai and moral fiber as to need three dis
tinct degrees of protection. Since the
film company, If 1t buys his book at all,
buys 1t because it is q popular success,
the author feels that the censorship of
the Aims comes too late; the public
| has already been damaged.
When I speak of various kinds of GEN.
sorship, am not referring to legislative
attempts to suppress indecency. Clean
minded people have differed as to the
practical value of such legislation, but
| few authors are bothered by it. A
competent author can say what he likes
| and stay within that kind of law In
certain moments of literary history a
/ powerful legal censorship has tended
! to increase literary skill. One doubts
| whether Voltaire would have sharpened
50 fine pen If his message had not
| been so urgent within him, and If his
! fear Of prison had not been SO strong.
And I do not refer to those restric-
tons which difference OF medium
! imposes upon true artist. You can
say things In conversation which you
would hesitate to write in a book, and
you can print in a book what you would
| hesitate to put in the dialogue OF
play or q film. In actual life you may
| pass q profane fellow on the street and
| notice only that a man Is swearing
! In q book you would see clearly the
! individual words his profanity uses but
you might skip the passage If it didn't
interest you. On the stage the same
profanity would hit you with a terrific
| impact, with a quite exaggerated en-
phasis. partly because In the theater
| you can't skip, and partly because we
! give many times the attention to the
printed word which we give TO ordi-
nary conversation, and many more
times the attention to dialogue In the
theater than we give the printed word.
II an author complains. therefore,
that laws against indecency cramp his
style. or that he ought TO be allowed to
say In q book or on the stage anything
=
his fellow craftsmen are not likely to
waste much sympathy on him. There
have been stupid repressions OF fine
books, but In our country, at least, not
many. and an attack upon q book by
an overzealous crusader usually ends in
nothing worse than temporary annoy
ance for publisher and author, and IN
creased sales.
But q more insidious form of censor
ship tends TO modify the total message
of tho American author am afraid
this tendency begins with the Ameri-
can public itself. As Q people we put
into our reading an unusually small
amount Of viii power. ] have heard 1t
said that Americans read creatively.
That is the prettiest way to describe
| what I am referring TO. have heard
1t said also that reading with US Is q
| form primitive magic. II we wish a
| thing to be so, and can read often
enough that 1t is 50 we feel better
We have helped alofts q cause. The
American audience as whole, there
fore, at least in those subjects which
come closest to American synpathies, Is
not looking for the truth about life as
| IL Is; 1t prefers a picture Of life as Il
thinks life should be.
II is very strange that Americans. of
4 .
In business we plan and dream, but we
| do not permit our dreams to blind us
4 to facts Is they are. When our ideals
however, are stated in literature. we
instinctively object to anything which
implies that the ideal has not yet been
reached.
We are quite willing to read true pic
lures Of life in the foreign books which
are translated for our benefit, but that
is because we are willing to believe any
truth about foreigners. If the story,
however, is about our own country, we
instinctively protest against q COMPARE
son OF our ideals with our actual con-
dition. We prefer, as we say, to have
faith.
This general pressure Of public
opinion In the United States works
against the author in two ways.
Through his publisher or his agent
through his family and his friends. it
discourages him from portraying life
sas 1t Is, or as he to the best Of his
wisdom understands 1t. II discourages
him from telling the whole truth. On
the other hand. IL offers him large
only q partial truth or q saccharine
truth. The crusaders against indecent
books often suggest that writer's turn
out immortal stun in order TO make
money. An American author knows
that to make money he has only 10
manufacture for large sections Of the
American public the picture of life
they wish we're true, but know is not
To an honest writer this would be writ
ing immoral books for money.
This vague but effective kind of cen.
Sorship bears upon books. 1t reappears
reinforced. In the magazine world. The
reinforcement comes, perhaps, from the
sales department Of the magazine
Sooner or later every magazine whose
circulation Is in the millions believes
that It's clients are very special grour
with special tastes. and that those tastes
should be scrupulously humored.
Just how the magazine editor and
his sales department arrive at theil
estimate OF the mentality Of theil
readers no author has ever found out
When the author talks with the editor
he finds him an intelligent man with
wide interests, put ne gets the impress
sion that the editor looks on his own
readers as morons. 1t appears to the
author that when magazines publish
good material In such variety that the
whole experiences OF life are covered
the magazine usually prospers; but that
as soon as the management has de.
termined what the exclusive tastes oi
its readers are. the magazine stand.
sim or begins 10 60 down hill.
But whether or not the author Il
right the queer fact is that when hi
writes q story today in the United
States and wishes to publish IL in 9
magazine, he must ask himself which
magazine Is receptive to stories of thai
kind. The editors can tell him In ad-
vance what sort of stories tnev want
OF course they want quality in the ma.
terial they ask for, but masterpiece
on the wrong subject would not bt
welcome. Since we have not enough
magazines to cover all the facets oil
life, many admirable stories cannot b
published in American magazines.
The author. therefore, IlnleRe hil