Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-30
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Recently we read two excellent novels
| which left us with the feeling, however,
| that they had got nowhere.
One may well wonder just what get
ting anywhere in the novel means.
If the phrase means anything at all,
1t means two things:
First, immediate action.
Second, the sense of satisfaction
which comes with a complete preSenta-
ton of life.
Let us examine these two phases for
moment, for every one reads. and al
most every one reads fiction. The novel
is not only the delight of the young, but
also of the middle-aged.
Perhaps the place the novel holds in
the affection of those who have passed
the heyday of youth has never been
sufficiently stressed.
For many years in this country it was
| customary for many good men and
women to deprecate the long story.
Women who read them were said to be
"frittering away their time" Men
scorned them entirely, or at least pre-
tended to.
All the time, however, the better
works of fiction were being read by
men and women who had passed over
the great divide between youth and
middle age
The novel gave them an interest and
a thrill which had passed away in
everyday life. 1t still is not realized by
many lust how depressing ordinary life
is for thousands upon thousands of hui
man beings. 1t is too bad but it is true
Those who have studied the matter
do not hesitate to place this sense Of
everyday qualification as one of the
real causes of war Men get tired of
the life they are living; they want to
get away, they want to become heroes
instead of porters.
We wondered why these two excellent
novels had left us with feeling that
they had got nowhere. and in wonder
ing decided that a novel, If it wants TO
get anywhere, must give a reader two
things-action and sense of Satisfac-
ton resulting from complete presenta-
ton of life.
Action is the great giant behind the
supergiant of interest. Interest must
be created, and often, but not always,
it is created by action BY immediate
action we mean the simple interest
caused by the passage of time and its
result on the characters of the story.
Many novels lack this sense of action
because the characters talk too much
or the different parts of the story are
thrown together so clumsily that a sense
of jerkineSS results.
In either event the reader is puzzled
with a feeling of dissatisfaction which
often enough he is unable to account
for. 1t is a well written book, he adj
mits; the dialogue is well done, the
characters give some sense of reality,
but the thing as a whole does not hang
together and is lacking in conviction.
What does one ask of the good novel,
after all?
There is a question for you, one
whose proper answer could only come
as the result of long study The aver
age reader, however, may make salts
factory approach to the question by
using his common sense.
AS a reader he is the judge in the
last analysis. 1t is he for whom the
book was written in the first place,
and it is his liking and recommends
ton which will keep it alive.
x X X
There are five elements which may
be expected from really good work Of
fiction.
The first of these is interest.
In many respects it is the most i'm