MISS CORELLI AND HALL CAINE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4900, 16 October 1901, Page 4

MISS CORELLI AND HALL CAINE.

a

In an article on the 'Popular Novel' the ' Quarterly Keview ' writes :—: —

1 Whatever may be the deficiencies oF Miss Corrlli and Mr Came, in reepect of the subjects with which it is their main ambition to deal, other writers have been in a condition equally abject, and yet have failed to gaiu similar favor with the masses. It remains for v* to inquire why, when so many bad novelists fail, the author? of ' The Christian ' and ' Th« Master Christian ' have succeeded. The reason is that, though they have none of the qualities which fit them to deal with the subjects of their most pretentious and successful novels, they have certain qualities which are very far from ordinary. WantiDg as they are in the higher qualities of authorship, they have both of them an unusual talem for constructing an effective story, nnd | their ye,ry ignorance helps them to tell it with tfnusnal verve, psfc as an ignorant boy will gallop his borne over ground .which any more educated J rider would traverse with the utmost caution. They moreover, n talent for designing and coloring their scenes which, low as it is, is not by any means common. Jt resembles the talent which enables a man to produce a startling poster; atid their c>cenep have thus the precise power which posters haye — the power of arresting Ihe attention and picitins th« curiotily oi fche rulgar. Mr Came, agein, io long as he cond°pcends to confine himself to the facts aad phases of life with which he is really fimili&r, is, as a writer, graphic, direct, and forcible. He sometimes even exhibits a genuine touch of poetry ; while Miss Core'li pOßeeßßes a certain gift of imagination which might, were it controlled or guidecLby taste a,nd knowledge, have produced results of real literary value. Miss Corelli and Mr x Came have, in fact, to a remarkable degree, tbe talents which pnable the storyteller to entertain and excite the partially educated in tbeir lighter momenrs, combined with an assumption of the profoundest knowledge of the subjects in | regard to which such readers are most curious in their more serious moods. Tbe same combination of talents may j

be nee,Q in the ' cheap Jack ' at a tW, who Bfcafc aUraefcs a cr«w3 by his eloquence and then sells sovereign at a shilling, and five-nhilling knives for sixpence. Tbere is genuine talent in his persuasiveness, though there is no value in his wares.