THE POPULAR TASTE IN READING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 187, 2 May 1908, Page 12

THE POPULAR TASTE IN READING.

By A LONDON EUBLISIIER. /' -k publisher's view; o£the popular- taste in -.■■■■■ reading must' not,, of course, bo. the. view.,of. ; ..an 'individual judging' public, taste, entirely.' :: by tlißi demand; for, the. books with .lvhiell. ho. :. • ; is. immediately' connected'. It must,.- indeed-, bo tha -new, of. one who snoaks. with-, the in? - . side, knowledge' which only >a». publisher, pos-; ■;....■: Besses-, -o£ the. varying,, apparently- arbitrary, • nature-of" public;;tastG>;' butV ./v that o£ one. who* keens, an observant, eye on ,v. ,tbo< publishingworld; as. a • whole. And; no ... publisher who .has.-occupied- this, position for ' . ' : ,t^e/last, twenty , years, can- fail to. bo struck . with" tho- enormous;'change that has taken .:; ! plaeo, in: tho;.publishing' world, during that, time. .' Tho : chief, change is connected with, tho- im- : menso increase.-m--'the: nuiubcr'of readers: of printed! matter. They are, not. by.., any; means: Teade'rs.Vof,.Literature in, the "strict,;sens<3; nor A v ;'eyen';fbr:; , the-rhosi -part.readers, : of; ■■ printed' matter contained; in books. While V.;! the* number'of those who rc?.d books has inJ 5;/;- .largely,'the^readers'lihdvtheir 1 mental s'v stimulus;'and: .such sustenance as' their .in-. V.; ::.. tellects demand in periodical; litei'ature^-the : '. daily,; newspaper, the weekly and monthly' il- . .. lustrated- paper, and . the. magazine, the ~a& :V' : : sortment : cf scraps that:i3 distinguished;only. by- its bitle from, a score of rivalis.. The pubw vhv: lishing of perindicals ,has. been during the , :v ,: -'last;, twenty,'year3 v &,..meansV. of: making/largefortunes in consequence. The, publishing of ' " : books, on the; other hand, has, become every -year an increasingly. Hazardous and less re-.. .V 'munerativo busmeas;. From a book publish- * . er's point or view ' thoi growth, of ..%ipublip. taste for reading has not,'been, greatly .-.to his "advantage; , It is. true, that the : expiration of copyrights op the chief boolis of last century—l)ickons, Thackeray,, George Eliot, : ;anii 1 : others—the"cheapening' "Of- methods, .'of production, .-and.'-mainly the . reduced, cost of ■■ gaper, - have opeji-'-'d-' up' an■ enterprise in the' . .manufacture. of ; cheap^prints'.of-" classics" ' to. an ejrteri.t'that ■ has probably never- before' ■ * been paralleled'.; The: shilling reprint, and its '. ;;"; variants havo sold, and 'still sell, by tens of thousands,- and;- at .-present" it; seems imnos- ■ sible to satiate , the demand. To. the production of'those- books two or ;three,publishing houses ; have .brought, extraordinary enter•i - prise, endless resource, and, in one or two cases, a fine discriminating literary, taste. .' . At the present moment it is possible,, for two or- three pounds,; to possoss; practically ■ a!'world's -literature in. ' 'readable, slid;handy form.. That this is a public bene- - fit cannot be doubted.. True,. many .thou-, . sands of .theso/books are. bought, simply be-' .;V-:' cause they : are jjretty., by. .peoplo who 'have . S" : ' ;no .intention" of. . reading them; • but it is ■ also' V : trae V that;: tho cheap reprint: • has - • brought good literature- within- tho reach of tho most, •. . serious and. eager reader in : tbo world—the! intelligent working man. ■ . Some: publishers look doubtfully, and even - ; with scepticism upon, the! cheap reprint as a ' means of making money, and some of the 1 shrawdost do not touch this kind of .business. Tho (juostinu as to whother it is a profitable business will probably^be settled .-within tho next five years.; Meantime'it can be stated . definitely, that it can only bo a profitable enterprise for tho two or three.houses that; havo gone into it; on a colossal scale. > Tho. last twenty years have : seen moro than'the growth of new periodicals; they havo seen tho: decline and fall 'of tho best of . the old ones. Of tho dozen high-class magazine* that flourished and made money for all concerned &t that tim®, only ono or two ara aliv» to-d»y, and it iB an open secret that the survivors are in the. last stages of . , exhaustion. - (One must always except . 11 Chambers's Journal," which report says is aa flourishing as ever.) So persuaded are : ; publishers, that for tho present the day of ' serious periodica! literature is over, that not

,ono can bo found to put his money into anj 1 enterprise of tho kind. It is true that cverj other month sees tho birth of now periodicals with high aims, but they aro the expression of tho individual 'faith of private idealists. v and their caree:' is oo short that thpy do not leave behind th?m' even a memory of theit names. ,■•<.-■ Within ■ thoso. years there has, also, beer • tho extinction ot tho three-volume novol at thirty-ono and sixpenco, and tho riso of the six-shillmg novel. This was one of the shrewdest moves over mado m the publishing of ;b6pks, and gave a great imoptus to the purchase of fiction by individuals. The . three-volume. novel .was. not intended for priyato ipprchasers; it was published for the circulating libraries. It had no competitors, its price enabled the publisher to product s a .small edition at profit to himself and to -, the author,, and writers of small talent had , undor'the: old rregimo much bottcr chnnces ( of oarnmg a livnu; than they have now when the novol is published at six shillings, and '; ainVs/at catehihg'- tho large public that' is nocossarv before it can bo a profitable bus- ' inoss. Tho institution of the., six-shilling novel has led, as I liavo said, to au enormous increase in the actual salo of fiction, arid-the books of. authors : like Miss Marie Corclh and: Mr. Hall Camo reach figures which far exceed the; salo of even Dickens's works in the height of his success. / The (juestioiv may be asked. - Wlmt comes of. the, writer, of inferior talents bofore referred to? Tho answer hides mimy a small • tragedy. Ho and she are writing books and getting them-'published,' but they- are often publishing them at their own risk, or on . such terms', as make .it impossible for- thom • .to .geti^any... I financial return, for,liheir 1 work, unless they happen to have a strmk of luck ' by reason of : their book dealing with sonie- ' thing topical, and being publisbijd at what in Fleet Street jargon'is termed -" tho psychological moment." It is a fact -that 75 per ■ cent., approximately, of the novels published '.tb-day' do' 1 not 'average, a "sale - of--..more than ; 500 copies in their'original form ; -'and a published needs to soli 600 of a six-Frilling liovel of average'-.lengtli to. clear his.expenses,, with-: - ;'ont; having- paid anything to the author. But :\vhat ; -happeris:'lp the, re6t of theso books, of, which probably an edition of not. less than .1000 conies: lias been produced They are " remaindered "—that is, sold at 3d. or -4d. to middlemen, dispose of them iwsadily;..-.at|. i .:'.a,-.,srofit- , , i to'; cheap circulatiing-. libraries: : and provincial booksellers • in. obscure towns. ■ Hero they, aro greedily ;taken up bv the. samo class of reader 'whoso . intellectual stand-by- is tlio cheap . novelette and : the sensational periodical. •'J-Vhen a new: wntor of unusual talent swims . i into the.. publisher's', ken,' tlio publisher is glad enough to pioduco tlio book. at' his -own cost and take tho risks. Sometimes liis >faith, i$ justified, ybiit, sometimes tho publio , j turns,- a. _de£sf . ear to his announcements , of :riew; genius, and the' book ■ fails" to move. 'Occasionally. he has tho hardihood to try •to. force- puiblic taste by bold* insistent adivcrtising..There have been instances' in 1 ,i which::;this.',, policy , has. succeeded;. but the nsksi-aro great, , and failure means a", heavy loss. ■ .More.-often-..tho -.publisher - in- :theso days, .being, ■ mainly : a commercial man, accepts his defeat and "cuts his losses"; he "remaindersr": the immortal work, forgo,ts it, and looks out for . new genius. . In spite of many disapiiointments, the publisher, re- : mains; the, mi>st remarkable .optimist among jmen.:^:.: ;i It!'is 'sign'iS?aht that .li.hate mainly of .the. novel'in, this'articlo. on popular taste ' in : reading, i ; More'.and more the novel is isupplanting- other-classes of literature, and -the.public literary tasto resolves itself .practically; into, a question of tho general taste Sin fiction. ,'lrl a more serious -ago, a'.man ■ liyjip.ihad,- a,- thqbry to. -propound, !a ,view of |life to. tench, used to do so in a book of essays, or poetrj-,, or in a philosophical work/ Some'; of? theni: ii,se these mediums still, but 'the.: majority . of- men who express ; them-. ; !selyes.-,. iri: ,writinj3 , in our modern times. try 'to. do it', by. the imedium; of 'fiction as ; a, surer |,way, of-influencmg ;tho pubhej and inoidencertain method i of gaming ' a : litrelihood. : The more brilliant of theso men como through after a : j struggle; the. oilhers . find fiction' of . a, higli- .. class- kind • no . more paying. than ' serious i j literature-in-othiiriormsj -and in many caseß they givo up- tihe ..attempt to,' teach,-' arid tako: to entertaining 1 the public; The result is:' ; pftffli' : l9"their'."otm''material advantage.jj,.; As ; to.: public;.tjtstei in', fiction: ; , There. can-iot\b'e'-)i doiilrt:/th'at:the,;incrMsed-hasto of. 1 modern 'hfo has takennis far away from the domestic' option of: early; and lriid-Victorian 1 days;,..= .-She novels of Jane Austen, Thacke:ray, and of a t dozen other writers that could <be namol,' are :too slow, contain too much ,detail,-and are not exciting enough' for' the j modern mmd. True, there have been reloont casvs of novels built on tho old lines iwhich hairo had oonsiderablo popularity arid ' i a, great' deal 'of fame.- ' The' most - recent (case was "Alice for: Short," by. Mr. William 'dfr -Morzainp-bufr"l--thmk it probable .that : the:.book, m, point: was more of a sucoe-s d'ostime. thqn a ,popular success, although there doubt it must,have sold very well. _ ; i The pu-blio loves- melodrama in. fiction. as ■ well as: ore tho stage,, and the literary tsiste : of' mocjorrt-'times, is tho eternal sensational : convention. : a- book comos along that is tlie outcome':pf a public mood, ; that touclais. tho"; deeper ' emotions and Aspirations; ■ and then: thero aro great happenings. , TllO particular book may have 110 relation'to genuine literature, and yet it is ; safe .t-o. run sales. A 'scoro of I'bopkSj mighfi. ; tp illustrate the statement,' !jut' a"smaller,-mimber of familiar, modern . ca;»es may •: suffioe—"John AVard, Preacher," .: "Robert Elsmere," "Called Back,": -"TJiio'.Heavenly . Twins," "In His Steps," and: "Tho Bonnie Brier Bush"—in : eafih casp...t!le..great. popular success of the ' particular bifok - can,,be; explained by. a reference.' to,--'sonkthirig'that. was agitating the . public mind , at tho moment of its appearance. Apoii from-individual, cases such as these,' 1 there is': undoubtedly ! a trend of ■ fiction; 'in.,every dccricße, and the trend is always an' expression of national thought, of the prevailing -view of life. The Kailyard books,' for, exampla, , expressed an 1 excessive national; sentimierit. which,' -running over into sontimentalgty, ■ became for many people i a' . very, unpteasant and an , omi.ious - pheno- '. menori.'. - Th'o success of "The -Hotiso with : the Green Shutters"' was the symptom of . a healthy reaction, as it was a deliberate pro- ■ tost : a,gainst ; .tho sentimentality of the Kailyard.-' . It is woith . noting, however, that that grim, forbidding book of realism never set- tie: fashion. - It' remains a book by •itself. : . : . ' This' brings! one, iir. conclusion, to say a ■word' about the", prospects of; 'literature, for the, future.,'. I see'-, no 'prospect of fiction' ; becoming] less popular than it, is to-day; On' the contrary, my belief is that in the -modern , world fiction will beepmo the . chief medium of' intellectual expression. '-On' the other ; hand, there is no' immediate fear of . tho, graver forms of'literature dying out.' After long ycara ' of ' neglect, even of contempt, poetry is lifting up its head, and pr.omiscs of greatness are discerned-in one, or two of tho younger meii; and by reason of the new hope that is stirring, even the minor poet is ,to-day getting a chance that he has not had for twelvo years. • The essay, too, in a new form has seen a considerable revival. Of modern writers, Stevenson was, I think, the first to restore .popularity to ', tho essay-v and ever since the publication of ; : Studies of Men and Books" therq -, has been 'a _ tendency to hail with cnthu- »' siasm 'anything'like'a' new essayist., ' Tho , noiy men who gave promise liavo not all i, "como off"; soijio of them havo failed for i; want of, the delightful abandon that was Stevenson's charm; and some of thorn ro- , vealod themselves as ■ personalities indeed, . but lacking ,in attraction. Mr. A. C. Benson ■ is our latest self-rovealer,; and: ho has excbllod Stevenson in this particular side of , the essayist's art. Mr. Henry James says 1, happily of Stevenson, that ho would never t ! 'pose'for the nude" ;' -but the' author of 1 "Altar Fire"; and "The, Gate of Death" has i }»3ed for 'theVnucle not, once but repeatedly; : His books, however; have boejr highly popu--1 ]ar, .and I'hope the/fact-indioatos an in- : crease in the public; demand for a graver i c ]ass of literature ..than fiction. One would, however,'-desiderate of those who may imi- !' tato Mr. ; Beiison a little mofe restraint than , that charming, writer shows. ; I te fietion, poetry, ' and . tho essay , iii discussing public: literary i taste, because - literature, in the stricter > senso of the, term, is confined to these s departments, with the addition of bio- : graphy and religion. Of religion, it may ; be said that the public taste ia still Martin

Tupperish; it shows a liking for the obvious, and the most popular devotional writers o to-day aro the. veriest platitudinarians. Bio graphv, on tho other hand, stands exeep tionally high at tho present time, and th public taste for it is as. keen as ever. Th great biographies of recent times 'have, o course, been Morley's "Lite of Gladstone' and Mr. Winston Churchill's "Life" of hi father. There remain the books of Rom iniscence, of Travel, of Sport, and tlios dealing with facts. Nothing is more re riiarkable than tile new demand for popular books of Science. Encyclopaedias have of late years had sales which have outdistanced the most popular- novels.—"Glasgow Herald."