A fund is being raisea to turn into a permanent museum the home of the poet Keats in Hempstead. American contributions are said to be more than twice those of the British.

A movement to endow the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, an undertaking to perpetuate the ideals of the former President, and to grant Woodrow Wilson Awards for "meritorious service to democracy, public welfare, liberal thought, or peace through justice," which shall have the international significance of the Nobel prizes, has been formed in New York. The Foundation is to be nation-wide, and it is proposed to set aside a period in October when subscriptions will be received. A group of widely known writers and magazine editors are serving on the committee, and National headquarters have been opened at 150 Nassau street, New York, with Hamilton Holt in charge.

Germany has resumed the payment of royalty to American authors and composers.

Rev. Lyman Whitney Allen, D. D., was married to Miss Nelle Lange Campbell September 14.

A "Handbook for Newspaper Workers," by Grant Milnor Hyde, associate professor of journalism in the University of Wisconsin, is published by D. Appleton & Co.

"The Writing of History," by Fred Morrow Fling, is published by the Yale University Press.

"Contemporary British Literature," by John Matthews Manly and Edith Rickert (Harcourt, Brace, & Co.), gives a list of British writers of novels, short stories, and poetry, with a brief biographical statement of each author, a full list of books and articles dealing with each writer, and dates of publication.

"Essays on Books," by A. Clutton-Brock (E. P. Dutton & Co.), consists of critical essays upon such subjects as Shakspere's Sonnets, Dickens, Donne's Sermons, Dostoevsky, and Keats, first published in the literary supplement to the London Times.

A "Life of Goethe," by P. Hume Brown, with a prefatory note by Viscount Haldane, is published in two volumes by Henry Holt & Co.

A life of "Albion W. Tourgee,” by R. F. Dibble, is published by Lemcke & Bueschner (New York).

"The Poetry of John Dryden," by Mark Van Doren, is published by Harcourt, Brace, & Co.

A "Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English," abridged from the seven-volume work, entitled " Slang and Its Analogues," by John S. Farmer and W. E. Henley, is published by E. P. Dutton & Co.

"A Short History of the English Drama," by Benjamin Brawley, giving an outline from the earliest miracle plays to the contemporary dramatists, is published by Harcourt, Brace, & Co.

Writers of children's books might gain useful hints from "The Teacher's Word Book," by Professor Edward L. Thorndike (Columbia University Press), which contains an alphabetical list of the ten thousand words found to occur most widely in a count of about 625,000 words from literature for children.

The sale of McClure's Magazine, which was to have taken place September 26, has been delayed, because of a warning from S. S. McClure against the further use of his name in connection with the magazine. Mr. McClure has notified all concerned that he reserves full liberty with respect to his name and activities in the publishing field, and cancels all prior covenants. The assets of McClure's were estimated by Myles A. Walsh, the receiver, as follows: "Due from American News Co., $20,000; from publishers, $5,000; from subscriptions, $2,500; advertising, $30,000; property valuation, $25,000; manuscripts and other material on hand, $40,000; outstanding accounts, $20,000 to $25,000; notes, $10,000; due from advertisers in September issue, $5,000." Mrs. Lovett Cameron died recently at Shepperton, England.

Grace Carew Sheldon died in Buffalo, N. Y., August 20, aged sixty-six.

Henry Austin Dobson died at Ealing, England, September 2, aged seventy-one.

Amos Kidder Fiske died in Cambridge, Mass., September 18, aged seventy-nine.

VOL. XXXIII.

In looking over the unsuccessful writings of young authors, one finds that a large proportion of the manuscripts are seriously impaired by one and the same fault. Although this defect is obtrusively evident to the trained reader, the precise nature of it is somewhat difficult to determine. It lies, however, entirely in the style in the manner in which things are stated. Of the manuscripts affected, each may be written in a style distinctly individual, yet all of them be characterized by the same dominant trait, which, for lack of a more accurate term, I shall call affectation.

A writer may be a genius at plot-construction or an adept in detecting the motives under

No. II.

lying the acts of mankind, and, in addition, the conclusions which he draws may be logical and accurate; yet when he attempts to describe in words that which his genius has enabled him to perceive and to comprehend, if he fails to do so in a natural, straightforward, and workmanlike manner, all his other gifts may prove of little avail.

When a beginner sets out to write a story, he has, or should have, the material for his tale already well in hand. All that remains for him to do then is to present his story in suitable language; and usually right then is when he makes his first and most serious mistake, for he proceeds at once- unconsciously, of course to place the story in actual subserviency to his own personal vanity. This may sound somewhat harsh to the aspiring writer, but there is a fund of evidence to bear out the truth of the assertion; and, first and last, it is the truth regarding his work that the young author must have.

The novice gives a great deal of thought to the impression which his story may produce upon its readers. This would be well and proper were it not for the fact that his thought is forced into the wrong channel by the impetus received from his self-consciousness. In other words, he thinks not so much of the impression that may be created in relation to the story itself as of that which may be produced in regard to him, the author. His fear that the style will not be literary leads him into employing words and phrases and methods of construction that are not natural to him. The result is that the presentation is rendered so artificial in tone that it becomes false alike to the characters which it seeks to portray and to the author himself.

A check of the manuscripts rejected by publishers would, I am firmly convinced, reveal the fact that a very large number of them were

found unavailable because of the tendency to affectation which I have just described. It therefore behooves the young author whose work is affected in this respect to put forth serious effort toward overcoming the fault.

The question at once arises, How is one to prevent such a defect from creeping into his work?

Experience has convinced me that the best method of procedure for practice is for the author to select one of his characters who is qualified to tell the story which he is about to relate. A little concentration will convert this character into a living entity in so far as the author's imagination is concerned. In making this character the supposed narrator of the tale the author will become less conscious of his

own ego by reason of the fact that the language and interpretations he is setting down are not avowedly his own. Thus any deviation toward the artificial will be instinctively noted by him, just as we perceive affectation in others while failing completely to perceive it in ourselves.

A story told by means of a narrator is at the present time at a discount in the literary market, so that my aim in advocating the writing of stories in this manner must not be misunderstood. The object sought is merely to assist students to overcome self-consciousness. Once the narrative has been written in this form it is an easy matter to eliminate the frame" and the imaginary narrator. COLORADO SPRINGS. Harold K. Ellingson.

66

How many writers give a thought to the selling value of their names? Very few, to judge by the assortment in the magazines; but this should be an important point. The writer should consider his name. He should take into account that prospective buyers of his book may find his name difficult or easy to remember when they step into the bookstore, according as he has chosen.

I do not advocate pen names. Very few writers of any prominence are willing to pass up the personal prominence and remain anonymous; but each person has a choice, within his name, as to how it shall appear in print.

At present, the almost universal tendency seems to be to take everything. Three full names, all printed out, are supposed to sound

literary." Often, I believe, they merely sound foolish or unnecessary. When Marie Doyle and Horace Whitehead blossom out in print, they appear as Marie Dolorosa Doyle and Horace Arbuthnot Whitehead. The double name is every bit as distinguishing, and just as "literary" if not more so. Why do they not use it, instead of inserting the entire middle name? Subtle psychology, perhaps.

The public prefers the simple names. Ask

a man whom a story is by, and he will not say Courtney Ryley Cooper." He'll say: "Oh, a fellow named Cooper." If it had been just a double name, such as Will Irwin, Hugh Wiley, or May Sinclair, the chances are he would have repeated the full name of the author and thus impressed it upon his mind a trifle more firmly.

The public does not like to ask for books by long-named authors. In loitering through bookstores, and libraries, too, I have noticed this time and again. The buyer will come up to the clerk and ask for Zane Grey, Joseph Hergesheimer, and Edith Wharton without any hesitation; but invariably he will stumble or pause and wait for the clerk to prompt him when he asks for a name like James Oliver Curwood or Arthur Somers Roche. It is just the pettiness of the middle name that makes him forget, or pretend to forget in order to avoid saying the full name.

Most noted writers use only two names, discarding the first or middle name if they have one. In the past there have been Charles Dickens, Matthew Arnold, George Meredith, and hosts of others, far outnumbering the three-name writers; and notice that they are