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Show I WILL OUR BOOKS LIVE? I a micstlon that critics of American I, A q ?tnn raise Is: Will an Amor I flct'Ctl"r today produce a work that II 3 b "eagS read and loved by the II "rprobionTlB not an easy one to II ivp Viewed on the surface one III might readily answer that there is II Sr more encouragement given to gen-1 gen-1 1 Z at this time than ever before ; that II So reading taste of the public is con-II con-II Itnntly developing; that the standard II nf education is steadily advancing and II that a more general prosperity affords II the public more opportunity to cultt-II cultt-II vate literary taste. II All of these facts might lead to the II conclusion that it should be easier now n L produce great stories than it was H fifty years ago, but there Is another side to the question. H It only requires a very simple analy- sis of al lof the grent works of Action to see that they differ radically from the best selling books of today. The H works that live are primal, elemental, H universal. They deal simply and dill di-ll rectly with those emotions, with those H phases of life that are common to H every land and age. They appeal to H every one who has developed the ca-H ca-H paclty to. love and hate, to aspire and H fear, to suffer and rejoice. The mere H Incidents of the story are secondary. H the personal views of the author are HJ not obtruded upon the reader, the time BJ might bo any age, the place might bo any land. IB But the novels of the hour, that W please and hold for a little while the II Interest of the great army of story I readers deal principally with the won- U (lerfnl complexity of our life today, D with some particular phase of our H social or commercial problems. When BJ the circumstances have altered these stories will excite no more attention than Donnelly's "Golden Bottle" or Caesar's Column" does today. B It Is easy to say that our authors B should not be so completely under the. B spell of the hour as to deal only with B passing affairs, but the answer Is con- B elusive when it is noted that It pays a best In dollars to write of the things In which the general public has an active, living interest. B Somo day, some one, great enough. B strong enough to refuse to bo syndl- cated, may devote the best of his life H and talents to uttering, not what the Hj public clamors for, but what lies deep-W3 deep-W3 est In his soul. And only a character like this will II produce the story that will not grow |