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

pertinent tnins mas Deen We'll Salo aDOui
Mr.. Lewis lists Of the writer's he likes
and dislikes-both groups have re-
ceived from the American audience at
tention. reputatio and fortune. The
reputation and the fortune may not
have seemed to the author large
enough, but they were better. probably
than the author could have earned else
where.
This Is not the sort Of comparison
which Is made sbetween the American
and the European reading public, but
much as / admire Europe for those
aspects Of culture in which Europe Is
superior, believe this comparison Is
iust. I cannot take seriously the criti-
cisms of the American audience made
ny European authors, who at the same
time hasten TO get their books trans
lated for US, or who contribute to our
magazines, or who sell their stories to
our dln1 companies.
In the size Of the audience and in
thu variety and the HOSPITALITY of their
tastes, this country is a writer's para
disc. Not only do Competent artists
have their chance with US, but to an
extraordinary extent the young and un-
tried. Those will not agree with me
who still have an unpublished manu-
script IN their desk, but such critics
cannot be numerous. From year to
year, In good times and in bad, book
sellers and managers introduce to us
the new novelistS, the rev playwrights
and with undiminished curiosity we
examine the offering. What more
should an author ask for?
The phenomenon of the American
audience deserves, think, more en-
phasiS than 1t usually gets. Its size Is
difficult to compute. We know approx
movies each week, but we do net
know how many people go more than
once. We know how many copies Of
q novel are sold. but we do not know
how many people have read the novel
in public or circulating libraries, nor
how many copies have been lent to
friends. We can be sure only that a
formidable number of Americans, young
and old, are ready to welcome any au-
thor who has something to say.
OF course, not all these readers read
critically. Many Of them do not know
what they are reading Some cannot
recall what book it was they read last
month. Is 1t otherwise with readers in
other countries? Are the readers 10
other countries all discriminating?
doubt it. We are sometimes challenged
by the cultured European for our slow
ness in approaching our genuises. Whit
man and Poe are usually mentioned.
Young Americans today who are un-
appreciated and who know they are
genuiseS sometimes point out that they
are in the Poe-Whttman tradition.
But these young Americans and the
cultured European have forgotten that
America never was so hostile to Whit
man rs some sections Of literary Europe
were and still are. AS for Poe, the
,-.,-th S- ti,at TFs-enca tI,rn,io1, a Irindrer
genius, Baudelaire, discovered Poe. Well,
Poe had q hard time with us, but
don't conclude from that fact that the
discriminating reader was or Is less
common In America than In France.
It may be so, but Poe's life does not
prove It. Poe gave us his unforgettable
verses, and we let him live and die
IN wretchedness Baudelaire gave France
his unforgettable verses, and France
let him live and die in wretehedness
But France did something more. France
tried to suppress Baudelaire's poems
and to put him in fail.
I said that IN the size and hospitality
of the audience, America Is writer's
paradise. Or It would be- II authors
could take q detached attitude toward
their own work, could sell their books
like any other honorable merchandise
thank Heaven for prosperity and manu-
facture new wares for next season
But alI authors are little mad. The
observation Is not new. Plato made 1t
The author, like other men, likes to bs
prosperous, but he also wishes to bC
immortal He must have an audience
but he insists that the audience shall
Be- sympathetic. He IS not satisfied
that the reader likes his book: tho
reader must like 1t for the right rea-
sons.
content merely 10 have large audience
He wishes the right approach to that
audience He wishes his books pre-.
served so that they can be read more
than once. And above al, he wishes
20 give such an account OF life as VIII
IN repeated readings by people OF vart'
Gus ages, seem adequate and true. Tit
immortality he desires is q continued
communing with his reader after he Il
gone. He knows that the fashions and
prejudiees Of the moment viii pass
but looking back upon books which
have been read for centuries, he know.
that human experience may be por.
trayed in such essential and inclusive
characteristics as will seem pertinen
to every time. He wishes to portray
human experience this way.
You win notice that the author 4
here setting up for himself no meal
difficulties. He desires an audience
but he is making certain stipulation
which viii reduce the size Of that audi
ence. All authors 90 this in al
countries, but in the United State
this typical problem Of theirs is &C
centuated.
The American author can appeal u
his audience In book form or in tn
magazine, or on the stage and screen
In book form he can hope to reach al
undetermined but undoubtedly larg
audience. In the magazine he ma.
reach an equally undetermined, but IA
larger audience. The desire, therefore
70 address as many Of his fellow mel
as possible would lead him to tn
YnaRagine rather than to the book, d
the firms rather than to the magazine
quite without regard to money returns
On the other hand, the film ant
the stage which give access to the wild
audience offer least Of that immortalit
which the writer wants. When the rll
Of q play is over the piece is rarel.
revived in our country. When the filn
has had its day it become very mucl
Of the past. The maga2'ne is NOR
permanent than the Aim, but far les
so than the book. Any writer know
that the book gives him his best chanc
at present Of speaking 70 later genera
tions. Once his work is between cover
and safe on the shelves of q few hun
bred libraries, he has all the chanc
of immortality which he can hope fol
Any one who tells uS. therefore, tina
books are passing. TO be replaced NOR
and more by films, does not know tn
temperament Of authors. Even thougl
we become so film minded that we n
longer buy a book. the author, an
sure, viii at his own cost publish HI
IT, ~@ 4af
be conveniently examined by the curl
Gus and the admiring hereafter.
I make this point not through an
hostility 70 the films; personally be
lieve that the talking film opens II
the most wonderful possibilities Of
new art which we have had for cen
fury. But from the authors stand