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Show j AMERICAN WRITERS. Tsoi long ago Tho Tribune found occasion oc-casion to censure Georg Braudes, the . r, distinguished Danish critic, for some views of American life which he acquired ac-quired in a fleeting tour of eight or 1 ten btateB. - ft is Tcith. particular pleas- lire, therefore, that we are able to com mend Mr. Braudes for a trenchant and true criticism of American literature. He ways: 'Your literature, ah, I have no ! hope! Your books are written by old maids for old maids. Ah, if your men who write onlys had the courage, the daring of those who fashion your buildings, or make your automobiles, or fly your aeroplanes, then you might have a literature.," and Braodes sighed as if reminiscent of his ride. "But they are afraid. They are drawing-room authors; tbey are afraid of 'shocking people.' Like the English with the suffragettes, they are afraid of sex." All observing Americans must do-; do-; plore the low estate to which our lit- I j endure has fallen. Sometimes a flash i of genius here and there among the i fiction writers of the day gives us hope, but in a little while we relapse : ' again into our despair of achievement. Originality was the distinguishing 1 mark of our literature in the first bait of the ninpteenth century, but somehow some-how our writers have reverted to cou vent ional standards. They a re old maids writing for old maid?. This condition con-dition is produced, very probably, by the fact that American writers are eager t o make money fast h nd by '.ho fact that the readers of fiction arc those who seek merely to be amused after a hard day "s work. America is too busy at this lime to produce great literature. As M r. Krandes suggests, our geniuses arc captains cap-tains of industry, engineers, architects, inventors and scientists. Wo have produced pro-duced a special style of architecture that compares favorably with the medieval me-dieval or the classic styles. YVc have made great advances in engineering, iu tho development of electricity and in the conquest of the air. In these de- j vclopments of thought and endeavor we are not frightened by old world standards, but clear new paths intrep-j intrep-j idly. In literature, however, wo liud it easy to write according to the accepted ac-cepted canons of good taste, and fear to venture upon unknown ways. As a result, our literature today, despite the fact that much of it is admirable, is stereotyped in thought and sentiment. senti-ment. We arc justified id believing that this is, but a passing phase and that an era is at hand when genius, freed from the necessity of carrying on the industrial battle, will have leisure to produce a literature genuinely genuine-ly American and truly great. |