Evening star., 1933-07-20

Some of those who remember the
charm of the work Of Anthony Hope
Hawkins, author Of "The Prisoner Of
Zenda," who has died at the age Of
10, predict q revival of the romantic
school of which he was q conspicuous
representative It Is observed that he
gave no attention to problems In his
creation of fiction, but that his pur-
pose was to stir the imagination with
q quality Of wit which gave distinc-
ton. His pen name was Anthony
Hope.
HE started two things Of conse-
quence," declares the Cincinnati Times
Star. Zone was what is called the
Ruritanian school Of fiction. its scenes
laid in q vaguely delimited region of
Eastern Europe, with afilnities to both
the German and the Balkan scene. OF
this school are Elinor Glyn's once wide
ly discussed Three Weeks that still
favorite comic opera, The Merry
Widow and a host Of other offerings.
The second thing In which Hope set
the fashion for his contemporaries and
successors was smart, brittle dialogue,
trivial In texture, yet storytelling,
swift OF movement, significant in its
revelation Of personal foibles. Every
would-be novelist and dramatist of o
generation ago studied The Dolly Dia-
logues' to learn how. None ever quite
got the secret; II Noel Coward's dra-
matte excursions were cleaner in con-
would be the nearest modern approach
to Anthony Hope, precursor Of epi-
grammatic drawing room comedy"
"The zenda series won its way
around the world, being translated into
I0n07r00ae 1aA
lanta journal, recording that it was
immensely popular In America" while
The Prisoner Of Zenda' took the
popular fancy by . gale and for 20
years continued among the, best sell
ers." Recognizing that the books
posed no problem and pointed no
moral, unless It were that courage and
honor and beauty are their own re-
wards" the Journal concludes: "Just
how good he was IS apparent in COM
pairing his work with that of q flock
Of tmitators." The Providence Journal
refers to zenda as "a pure hight Of the
Imagination. which really struck q new
note and stimulated imitation" while
invention and excellence Of narrative"
Some Of U.s." says the Newark Eve
ming News, will wish the days Of The
Prisoner Of Zenda' were back. It was
happy time. inevitably associated with
youth" The Oakland Tribune calls
the author - flne weaver of spells,
dashing writer OF romance" and Sug-
gests that ''to the many he was The
man who invaded In fiction land
where heroes were surprisingly gal
liant, heroineS more beautiful than any
before, and villains all but delightfully."-
wicked" The Tribune finds it to his
credit that he bestowed pleasure upon
hundreds Of thousands Of people" The
youngstown Vindicator holds that the
masterpiece was well written, humor
brightens the melodramA, and through
it all one feels an air of mreality that
raises 1t above ordinary hction and
tends to make 1t work Of art"
What . glorious relief was The
Prisoner Of, zenda,'" exclaims the
drowsy verbosity Of Robert Elsmere.'
that fiction did not have to be weari-
some. with what sest everybody took
to wandering with Rudolph Rassen-
dyl In impossible landsl Moreover, It
was not necessary to place the Hope
novels on the highest shelves Of the
bookcases 20 the children could not
reach them. Though one may doubt II
any child ever reached for Mrs.. Hum
phry Ward. The problem novel has
never since been what It was. But
dp-xing stories Of pure romance are
still strong. Perhaps they are now o
little rougher than the zenda stories
and not quite 30 prepogtcfuue or quite
20 delicately devised. But they Are
stin uholesr~e and they ere still the
proper pabulun for story readers. 70.