Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-08

One. Of the joys of the novel is the
way characters 50 often remind one of
people one knows in real life.
Traits OF human beings are universal,
so that 1t makes no difference whether
the book Is written by an Engiishman
Russian.
Here, in this novel written by one of
the great French fictioneers so years
ago, there appears little busting
woman who Is the exact image. men,
tally and physically, of some one the
reader knows.
Even her quick, short" step, so often
referred to by the writer, Is remarkably
like that OF the real woman one knows.
The image of this latter person
flashes into the readers mind the
moment the fiction character steps onto
the scene. and thereafter throughout
the novel he. Is unable to forget her.
He Is perpetually tracing resem-
blances and saying to himself, though
without once interrupting the flow of
the story, Yes, that Is very like" and
mo, that Is not exactly the way she
would do It,"
This resemblance between book char.
acters and real people is one Of the
hidden joys Of books.
l
orally thought Of, but 1t is very GER
tain to those who have had some ex-
perience In reading.
In bookdom, as elsewhere, experience
counts for a great deal.
The well-read man or woman hac
stores Of reading experience on which
to draw.
This gives him a reservoir of fact and
fancy which Celebrates any book which
/ ha iAa 80 al
the very grandeur of Greece, flows to
the aid of the latest writer on Broad
way. The past and the future meet In
| the present, when such q good reader
sits down to q good book.
+: u n
Biography, despite its vogue during
the past decade, must fall somewhat
short Of the novel in this respect. De-
spite the fact that a biography is a
species of novel, in sense, 1t must be-
ware of exaggeration.
Now exaggeration is the very life
blood Of a good work of fiction. 1t may
be said, with much truth, that no
great novel fails to utilize this major
trick.
It is precisely because the novelist Is
able to avail himself of helpful exag-
geration that his works somehow stand
out as more powerful in effect than
! biography.
| A really splendid novel has an effect
| OF exaltation on receptive reader,
whereas there is no such effect from
the finest biography ever written.
| II one asks the why OF this. the an
swer must be that the biographer has
tried to stick as closely as possible to
truth, whereas the novelist. dealing
with imagined characters in imaginary
situations, has been able to put into
! them that small but powerful extra
little something which becomes so
mighty in effect on mind and heart.
| +
The characters, in works OF fiction,
are the mainsprings Of wholesome ex-
| aggerations, Of courcs.
In them human nature, at its worst
and best, Is summed up. made visible
before US, but 50 touched with light at
the edges that the mind Of the reader
| Is given flllup.
A reader is a god while reading a
good novel
! He mtngles freely with humanity. but
himself Is utterly free from the ordi-
nary emotions of like and dislike which
assail him so persistently in his con-
facts with real human beings.
For the duration of the book he is
as one free from the common failings
Of humanity.
He is presented with some gross