THE WAY TO READ.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 621, 25 September 1909, Page 6

THE WAY TO READ.

Mr. Arnold Bennett has written,several bookson tho circumstances o£ literature, and now ho publishes with tho "New. Ago Press" a volume on "Literary. Tißto" and Sow ,to form it, wkioh goes nearer to the heart of the matter. Of" course Mr.- Bennett' docs not guarantee to turn', us out- 6pick . and span .in 'six . lessons,. but, as he-knows that a good.many 'people nowadays are thinking that they would' like to get at literature, ■ho proposes to-give them some inkling of what it is. ":Tt, is easy, to make a false start, and on© way-to-do this is. to select an accredited- classic, such 6s'Sir Thomas Browne or Congreve, and- to give liirii a 'dispassionate trial for half an hour. Boredom _and pretence lio that way, and Mr. Bennett sternly assures us that to form one's literary tasto.is not easy, though it may be pleasant. ,'■ He, makes the bold and admirable proposal that'the aspirant should, whet his interest by specialising. .When one has,read an author and what people know, and think about him, it,'appears that the work and; the man are-one, and that literature is not just.an accomplishment .'tacked.'on to. clever people, but tho expression of all that is most vital in men and things. To know everything about Charles Lamb, too, is to, know a-good deal about Wordsworth and Coleridge and the rest. '.The' circle of interest enlarges, but Mr. Bennett warns us against the danger of mistaking .chatter about Shelley or. "the evidence for and against,tho assertion-Hint Equsseau .was a scoundrel", as literary',criticism.) He ichows, too, the chill that comes over the earnest seeker when his heart whispers that Lamb is not a,gigantic genius after, all; or-that "The Prelude" is tough, arid work; Dangerous though it may;bo to take things on trust; a littlo faith, helps at tho beginning, It is good to bo. ready, but .'not too ready, to join "the. passionate few" who proclaim throughout tho ages that Wordsworth and Lamb nrd good and without, whom tho classical authors would'sink into oblivion. ' And ■it is reassuring that, though there are some mistakes • made about contemporaries, these few aro on tho-whole, as' Mr. Bennett snys, passionate about the somo things. Ho makes a fine point in urgiiisr us to get, v;cll- into the midst of-things. "Sparks ,are flying all about tlie place, and it will he no! loss thnn n miracle if something, combus-, tibtc and indestructible in. you docs not take lire."—"Manchester Guardian:" '