THE AVERAGE SIX-SHILLING NOVEL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 235, 27 June 1908, Page 12

THE AVERAGE SIX-SHILLING NOVEL.

A singular claim was made by. the 'Times" last Monday. It added up its grand total of words and found that they amounted to two hundred and fifty-three thousand odd, )r about threo times tho quantity contained by the "average six-shilling novol." Hero toe editor of tho "Times" modestly stopped.; He loft his readers to draw their own inference. Thoy will havo not . tho smallest difficulty in drawing it. A'ssumo tho ''Times" is reasonably priced at. threepence. It follows that the average novel of eighty to ninety thousand words, bar binding-i-say twopence or throojxmce—ought to bo published at ono p'onny, instoad of at r sjx shillings. .This is dead certain. There is no denying or escaping from it, if we are to value literaturo by the amount of words brought to- market. And tyoyond doubt tho prevailing idea to-dav in many quarters is to value all printed stuff by the quantity. He is the ''Happy Warn6r" in this lino qf business who can knock off moro thousand ,wds. Ber. hout thai^Jiia.

rivals. It is a■ sort of shorthand test; at : any rate, the method-in ono way reminds ono of shorthand. Wo Tomoinbcr hearing that :> there was a..champion'*shorthand writer who could, by Pitman, got down jiis two hundred , and forty words per minute. Wo do not lenow whethor any-man of letters can get it on to paper, at. this Yafe, though it has been ' claimed'f&'r our'geriirt'l "and wondorful "T.P." that ho enn'-write 'tho lifo of a statesman while you .wait. .He did Disraeli, did he not, in ' a fortnight—iho iime Johnson took to writo "Uasselas" to pay. the funeral expenses of his mother—and it is clear that 1 lie has ? dono.Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman ; inless timo ; t!mn that.- On the wliolo, how- •' ever, we doubt if even Mr. O'Connor could manage his two hundred and forty words a ' minute, which'works out at ninety-five thousand two hundred words in a full working day of eight hours, not allowing for refreshment. But .it is wonderful what can bo done by a competent' man of letters in good health— in fighting'form;' so' tO' ; say. A ponny a lino has often boon spoken of with high scorn. It is a term of reproach like "tho'half-penny Press."' But now that literature is to he valued and priced/by quantity alone instead ,°f by tho old-fashioned tost of quality, tho ; "ponny-a-liner" mayo prove top dog after all. will be spoed that tells;, and ho often is very speedy. 1 There is no question about "Tho Times" proving its point : absolutely as quantity is to' be tho test: the six-shilling novel ought to be brought out at a penny; or if it is to keep up its price fairly it ought to contain not as now eighty thousand words, but— dreadful thought!—not less than six million words. Tho Times " sells two hundred and fifty'.'thousand words" for threepence'; how then can Mr. Hall Caine and Miss Corelli venture' to 'offer for twenty-four times that ! sum a less amount of words than twenty-four times two hundred and fifty thousand — six' ! million ? . i

And yet on the whole we muclv hope things ■ .will go on just as they are. A novel of six million Vwqrds, is a novel of a nightmare in a nightmare.. People who devoured fiction on this scale would die off like flics. It would' . noed strong men to handle such books, let . alono read them. ' Booksellers might have their bookshelves smashed np in the effort to stock; and probably instead of the publishers boycotting'the Times " bookshop—as Mr. Eldori Bankes puts it —the bookshop would turn the tables .on tho publishers and boycott them! • Wo;diffor by a. whole heaven from the " Times " idea, about'the average six-shilling novel. Tho " Times " wants to make it far cheaper, and to sell it consequently in far larger numbers. Wo are strongly of opinion ■. that it ought to-be.kept as dear as possible. ■' Tho .truth is . that—if' you aro to take quality into' account' at all—the " average six-shilling novel is not a good thing. Sonie people call, it,a six-shilling shocker. Tho description is absurd. It does not shock. It wearies a raan out. - The plot is impossible as a rule. The characters are dummies. Thoy are worked,by wires, and'tho wirepuller too often, is. a very indifferent manipulator. Novels are reeled off by routine. Tho reader learns nothing through thorn. He doesn't inform himsolf/ .Ho.doesn't refresh himself. Scott said ho could'always get sonie information out. of the dullest passenger in a stagecoach. ,-Biit "Scott would have failed to get anything,out of most six-shilling novels. It as said .that Archbishop Temple read quantities of'"light modern- fiction " for recreation at - times, but contrarity must always bo allowod to. genius. Talent, or mediocrity, or downright • stupidity, can get nothing out of this faro." ■It ia'a waste of time, and, for ourselves, we, find. it, a waste of temper.— " Saturday Review." . > ' "THE POET'S CORNER." ■There is no doubt-that in some parts, of our.<'country the -".Poot's Corner", of tho local newspaper was a bit of an "institution." This happened chiefly in the oase of the weekly and bi-weekly journals which supplied a widespread rural population. Such journals, .being oftdn. almost the only litera'turo'thdt.Teaohed.those'who read them, were ■ passedvrftbmihousehold .to household, and 'road, to'all' intents and purposes, from tho first pag'e'to the last. 'This brought luck to tlio' -" Corner'.", ; There, were always young people who-on" unfolding tho sheet' would make' a bee-line for the verses, while even in tho ease of .their-.-seniors tlio. verses in ono corner fell to'be rfead as inevitably as tho births, marriages, 'and deaths in another. Now the certainty of aii audience is a great stimulus to . the production of verse. Consequently until within,' a few years—someone ' says twelve—there was never lacking the sub-minor -poot tofdisplay in tho columns of the. local, press'tho. :pageant of his bleeding heart''and' to '-hail before it came tho Si>ritig which'brought no Spring to. his lacorited'feelings.' ' Moreover, there were poetsy , such ai-they wero; ; who achieved'a career,. ; such as. it . ivas," without stepping out of the Pcet's Corner. They'enjoyed locally and. on a £mall scale what may be imagined to bo the privileges which on a largo scale great 'poets'enjoy. They wore road, thoy Were discussed,, they were'pasted in albums, they were quoted, and might wear thoir hair long without ..reproach,. On the whole, in such newspapers this department had its function.

;. But now,, .comes a ..writer in tho "Scottish Review"^who'talks-Of the decline of tho Poet's G9rner,j;'and;rthe reason ho gives, although - not coiivinoing, is ingenious enough to b££rntoresting;V:. He ascribes it to tho supQtibr quality df;„tho poetry < with which nowadays children arcfamiliarised at school.. In tbo old days tho typical' extract in the school-books was iii didactic plainsoug, while' even if. it .were, of . tho ;truo'poetic quality it was looked upon morely as something for tho grammatical analyst-to exercise his skill upon, a theme from, which, tho moralist might draw; his " lesson;", "Such verso was calculated to awaken in the child's mind the sentiment of-tho giant in tho fairy tale, "Od splutter; hur ;nails,- hur could, do that hurself.", But now wo have changed all that. The extracts aro true poetry—the best of ■Shelley, the best of Keats, the best of Tennyson—passages"'which when tho "would-ho poet remembers later on, ho puts the cap upon his fountain pen and desists. Now it may be'doubted if oither'of the offects would follow as indicated.. It is doubtful if the reading of flat verso ever excited anyono to write verse, while it is almost certain that tlio very excellence of true poetry, instead of discouraging, stimulates to imitation. That is the,-contention of Mr. Stopford Brooke. ,In his. well-known hook on Tennyson that critic; whilo'declining to define poetic beauty, ;iii'itselfj' analyses into three ingredients tho poetic beauty makes on him who perceives it.- Tlio first is "lovo of it which has no return on self," the second is joy or reverence " without bringing self-admira-tion or vanity," and tho third is the desire to ; imitato. "It kindles," he argues, " the desire of-reproducing . it; not that we may exftlt! in. our., own skill in forming it, but that ■ our reproduction may awaken emotions in' others similar to thoso which'tho original sight ,of beauty stirred in our own heart— that is, it moro or loss forces tho seor into creation."

Ort the whole wo may ascribe tho deolino of tho Post's Cornor. rather to that depres* sion of this litorary atmospho'ro of which our poots [oven of tho. highest grades to-day must bo dimly conscious. We live in an Ago when tho great spiritual forcos from without which aro necessary to thg production of poetry are cithor. feeblo and intermittent or entirely lacking. Tho existenco of such periods is implied in Arnold's picture of tho poet Gray as a man of tho finost genius and full of tho express ( essence of poetry, but owing to tlio circumstapcos of the timo in which ho lived unablo to " speak out." If he had boon born oarlie'r, Arnold reasons, tho Elizabethan ideas wonld have inspired him; if lator, thoso that culminated in tho French Revolution. As it was, ho was born in a poriod of slaekwator between two of tho groat tides of human histdry, and that great wind of inspiration whioh should havo sat fair in the shoulder of his' sail let it flap against tho mast.! Many of our poets aro in like caso. Even with thoso of them who aro mastors of the utterance it is not tho continuous utterance of tho earlier gods, while with those less fortunato it .is not a large uttoranco at alL —"Manchester Guardian."

Of all the silly proverbs one Whoso voguo should ho diminished, Is: "Woman's work is never done!" It should bo: "Never finished!" She's alwayß working,' understand, To : keepthe homo ..together, And has woods' I'enpormint Cure on hand For colds in, .wintry'weather, 16

[ everything for myself and treating the artists in my employ with kindly consideration.' • Instead of. giving them oil paintings or diamond rings to remember mo by, I propose to give, them what I think is' a more suitable 'remembrance." "Mako them all ; stars for a while P" I asked. '. "No, but to givo them a new audiencc and a new theatrical experience," he replied.' "What's your plan?" I asked again, as we jumped from the mud a passing hansom splashed. "To bring them to London and let them play awhile here without any idea of the play making money. I'm going to entirely disregard nioney-making. Whether actors or plays succeed or fail is of no poDsequenco in my plan. Tlio idea is to give actors who would never otherwise have an opportunity of appearing before a London audience a chanco of doing so. In addition to tho rest the trip over and back will givo them they will find relief in appearing before a now audience. It will bo an experience they will always roinember, and will also have a broadening effect on their art. "I beliove thoy will appreciate it much more than a fow weeks' 'vacation in the mountains or at tho seashore. There will he no troublo about..finding theatros hero for thom to appear in, and, hang expenses, it will bo my troat! No matter how hopeless an actor or a play is for London, I will bring them 1 over just tho same. As you know, it is the ambition of every American actor to play in London, and that is an ambition 1 want to gratify ;,b my memento to tho profession."

Tree's Shylock. Mr. Beorbohm Troe's performance of "The Morchant of Venice " has sot many tongues wagging as to its real merits. 1 think it is a great performance, and am almost inclined to agroo with my friends, the longhaired critics, with whom I do not generally: agree, ' that it' ranks alongside Irving's in morit and popularity. I should say it was more of a popular performance than Irving's. It is cortainly a more molodramatic production than over Irving made. Mr. Tree's Shylock is a thing to wonder and shiver at, but I don't imagino that Shakespearean scholars will ravo over it much. It is a little hit too much 'l'rco and too little Shapespearo. Miss Alexandra Carlislo as Portia looks as pretty as a picturo in the part. She could not help that if she tried to, because she was born so, but that about lots her out. To bo very frank and brutal, sho fell down hard and bumped hor hoad. Miss Carlisle is not quito experienced enough'yet to make a dent in tlio Shakespearean dish. Doubtless, that will como later. Howovor, sho does not mar tho performance, and can bo easily overlooked,— " New York Herald." Notes. It is understood that Mr. William Gillette (of Sherlock Holmes fame) has completed his translation or adaptation, of Hemstein's "Samson." Mr. Bourchior is to play tho principal character of this piece in London, while Mr. .GillsttQ himself w.'U

receive an offer. Tlioy desired to imDort the mva for a,single performance, and are said to havo a fund that will onablo thorn to pay her as high ns 10,000 dollars if she will undertake a flying trip to New York. llie representatives of The Friars, who are now in London to secure Mme. Patti, aro inar Governor Marcus.Mayer, who lias been their European representative since his arrival last August, and Friar Governor Frank U layno, who recently; arrived to look after tho advance work for "The College Widow" company. Messrs. Mayer and Payne havo authority & 0 ??. -i Abbot We.ls Hawks and tho Publicity Committee to intercede with Mmo. iatti, and thoy are how proparing to visit hor at Crag-y-Nos Castlo for a final conference. Mr. Mayol* is Mme. Patti's old-time manager, and conducted successfully a number of her American tours. The diva probably has moro confidence in Marcuß Mayer than in any American manager that could be mentioned, and ho is quite hopeful of securing her consent. .• Ho has explained tho nature of the Friars' organisation, which at once greatly interested the prima-donna. Honorary Friars Charles Frohman and Marp Klaw, who aro also here, aro said to be prepared to .back up the young raon financially jn any business proposition they find it necessary to submit to, the diva, but p. committee of Friar governors is led to beliovo that if Mme. Patti consents to make the journoy to Now York Bho probably will refuse to accept any remuneration.

Tho Friars aro wbrking secretly in tho of securing somo spectacular foreign attraction for their festival, but hope to mako an official announcement within the next few days. In case Mme. Patti finds it impossible to accept it is expected that Honorary Friar Marc Klaw will be empowered to contract, for the most oxpensivo and most elaborate vaudeville act that can bo scoured, either from tho London or tho Paris musichalls. Telepathy. According to "Munsoy's" there is a wondorful likonoss betweon " Tho Merry Widow" and a French comedy, "An Attache of the Embassy," written by Henri Moilhac (Mcilhac, who diod in 1897, inspired much of Offenbach's music.) It is sugested that tho likeness is probably more than accidental; anyway, it is romarked as curious that "Tho Morry Widow " has appeared in every European capital save Paris. Incidontnlly, "Mimsey's" notes also a romarkablo similarity botweon tho Widow's " Women, Women," sextet (in Melbourne a septet, by tho way) and "Tlio Mascot of tho Troop," a number from "MJlo. Modiste,". written by tho American, Victor Herbert. Lohar's "Morry Widow" was produced for tho first time oil any stage at tho Audor Wien' Theatre, Vionna, on January 3, 1906; while Horbert's "Mile. Modisto" appeared at tho Knickerbocker, Now York, just a week earlier. " Munsoy's" concludes that it is either a case of mental telepathy, or (and more likely) that both composors quietly " bonod " the melody from " tho same original, devised b>" .neraou 'or oorsons unknown." ,