WHARTON'S "THE AGE OF INNOCENCE"
MR. HERGESHEIMER'S "CYTHEREA"
V. PHILISTINES AND DILETTANTE
POETRY FOR THE UNPOETICAL EYE, EAR, AND MIND
OUT WITH THE DILETTANTE
FLAT PROSE
VI. MEN AND THEIR BOOKS
CONRAD AND MELVILLE
THE NOVELIST OF PITY
HENRY JAMES THE SATIRIC
RAGE OF BUTLER
CONCLUSION
DEFINING THE INDEFINABLE
I
ON FICTION
SENTIMENTAL AMERICA
The Oriental may be inscrutable, but he is no more puzzling than
the average American. We admit that we are hard, keen, practical,
--the adjectives that every casual European applies to us,--and yet
any book-store window or railway news-stand will show that we
prefer sentimental magazines and books. Why should a hard race--if
we are hard--read soft books?
By soft books, by sentimental books, I do not mean only the kind
of literature best described by the word "squashy." I doubt
whether we write or read more novels and short stories of the
tear-dripped or hyper-emotional variety than other nations.
Germany is--or was--full of such soft stuff. It is highly popular
in France, although the excellent taste of French criticism keeps
it in check.
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