Henderson daily dispatch., 1935-11-16

York
|s:dmeSAS@EeM

IhlS is the first of two part
interview with w. Somerset Moug-
nam, most famous living Brltlsh
author written by James Aswen'
NEW York columnist of Central
Fress and distinguished writer
of short stories.
New York, Nov. 16--I am brash
IelloW. you have to be in this business.
put approached the interview which
shall presently record with not
little old-fashioned stage fright. 1t
Is one thing to beard movie darlings,
assorted theatricoes and the run-of-
the mill eXhibitionists OF the Man
haitian cene-transatlantic flyers,
prolatarfan playwrights, Senators,
matinee idols, prizefighters, grain
trusters and other such mica-shine
midgets
1t is quite another thing to meet
and chat with man who for many
years has seemed to you one of the
greatest perhaps the greatest living
writer in English. Certainly he is
the greatest rh1ster of short-stOry
technique. Whole schools of modern
lStlc glbberish-compOSitiOn have been
devised to relieve writer's of the ne
cessity for craftsmanship and it's ap-
palling drudgery
w. Somerset Vaughan soon put
this pop-eyed pilgrim at his ease, in
the pleasant parlor of the Hangar
Club, where he is pausing before
long trip to Martinique, Trinidad and
other West Indian ports in search of
new characters. He frankly draws
his bookpeOple from the life.
can writer" he said. "who tells
vow r" dOo'-'~'t is = liar"
He ha" had trouble. has the author
Of "nf Human Bondage" Cakes and
Ale" Rain" and two score other
novels. plays and short stories, with
real people who professed to be out
ragged to find themselves limned in
his fictiOns Most of those who claim
ed to have been skewered were OBJ
V1Ous mpOSters-fOlk he had never
met; but those who could make
case as his characters have often been
of doubtful sincerity. secretly enjoy
ing their little hour in the sun.
Vaughan talks slowly and carefully
forms his work Indeed presently NV
stage-fright left me and l was as free
from awe as if 1 had been chatting
with Franklin d. Roosevelt or James
Aloysius Farley
THE other day" he said, II got
letter from a source close to the Rus
sian Government. | was informed
that thye were aware of my work and
thought I was one of the writer's who
ought to be considered But thew
wanted, first. to know what side of
the fence l was on in the Glass Strug-
gle"
did you answer the letter?"
Eyes. In more polite phraseology |
told them it was none of their damned
business. When l call in a doctor or
a lawyer | do not ask him his politics
before employing him. l am a pro-
fessional writer. a storyteller, and
do not see why my politics should
matter to the people who read me-"
With a mental Hear! Hear. 1 ask
ed him:
But what of the 'proletarian no
vel?' There's a bunch here that claims
everybody should write with a poIiti-
cO-ecOnOmic slant"
There must be good novels of the
kind. l cannot recall offhand ever
having read any. But most novelists
cherish at least a secret hope that
they will be read in the next genera
ton. The propaganda which seems
very much alive to us now will seem
very dead indeed fifty years hence
Who reads Uncle Toms Cabin &
propagandistic novel, now, if anyone
reads it at all, except for the charac-
ters and the story?"
Mr.. Vaughan rises early and