A Literary Bombshell.

Waikato Argus, Volume XXV, Issue 3845, 28 July 1908, Page 4

A Literary Bombshell.

Upton Sinclair's book, "The Metropolis," in which he scarifies the vulgar rich, has aroused the American critics. Even the moderate Outlook denounces it. It says:—"Mr Sinclair possesses the prime quality for success in the field of pure imagination—entire ignorance of his subject. . . True stories must often be harrowing and heart breaking; but there is no excuse for writing brutal, hateful, sordid fairy stories." Upton Sinclair replies in the New York Times. He says that he got his material by writing personal letters to the people he wished to meet. Most of them agreed to his request, and furnished him with information. Mr Sinclair says that his book "The Jungle," was attacked on the score of exaggeration, but when a presidential investigation of its accuracy was made, he was able to show that it was a true picture of the'stockyards, though he could not give legal proof that men had occasionally fallen into the tanks and been rendered into lard. His evidence in this case was destroyed by bribery, and the frightening of witnesses. Mr Sinclair claims to have given two years of his life to-an elaborate and thorough study of New York fashionable, society.