Work 186-76 14162 INTRODUCTION While assembling this collection of modern essays, the editors have tried to hold a single principle steadfastly in mind. They have sought to make the collection a truly representative one: that is to say, one which includes examples of the different kinds of essays by contemporary English and American authors which have won the esteem of American readers. In other words, they have tried to avoid, on the one hand, the bias of their personal preferences in the selection of essays, and on the other hand, the limitation of a special subject matter. This volume is designed to appeal not to specialists in sociology or political science, but to the general reader. Though essays bearing upon the organization and government of society are included in the volume, they form only a portion of its contents, and they are distinctly such as have not been written in the manner of the specialist. The collection, then, cannot be described as either "light" or "heavy" in its tone, as either chiefly political or chiefly sociological in its subject matter. What consistency a collection of this sort should have is to be found, first, in the timeliness of the articles included that is to say, in their importance and attractiveness for the contemporary mind and secondly, in the fresh and literary flavor of their wording, which guarantees that what is significant shall be found interesting as well. The editors of this collection have, perhaps, been more concerned that the essays be timely than that they possess a literary style. If they do have a fresh and literary flavor, it is that writing of this sort is characteristic of the age we live in. So there is considerable diversity of subject matter. In fact, as a glance at the title page will show, the essays have been grouped together in such a way as to reveal this diversity. Essays on the international mind and its humane reflection even during the World War rub elbows with a group of recent critical essays in appreciation of certain of the great works in world fiction. Discussions of the use and nature of words and the purpose of a college education offer contrast to more purely literary essays with their genial and informal treatment of themes of universal interest. But most important of all is the series of essays with which the collection opens. For, though the volume contains representative essays by some of the more prominent English writers now living, it is predominantly an American collection. More than half of the selections included are by American authors. The largest group of topics is that devoted to American problems. And of these problems the greater number are concerned with the question of American nationality. For the generation to which we belong is deeply interested in the formation of that American civilization which so many persons are discussing in our contemporary journals of opinion. A surprising number of people, students in our colleges, women in their clubs, and business men of broader than merely professional concerns, may be discovered at almost any hour of the day or night in the midst of such discussions. Theories of government, proposals of legislative reform, do not indeed attract us to-day with the magnetism of a decade ago. But discussions are constantly arising about the morals and manners of the "younger generation," the conflicts (which are cultural as well as commercial) among the geographical sections of our country, about the present seat of our national culture or the probability of our having any. It has resulted, therefore, that this collection is diverse not only in the variety of its subject-matter, but also in the different types of essays represented. They are as various as the different styles of writing essays which may be found in our contemporary literature. Some of them are perhaps journalistic rather than literary, both in their references to current events and in the unpremeditated flow of their sentences. But essays written by men on the staffs of newspapers and magazines will serve to show that no barrier necessarily exists between journalism and literature. Good writing follows upon the conscientious application of one's talent, whether he is isolated in a professorial chair or battling in the maelstrom of everyday life. A writer need not be dull in order to be profound, or the denizen of an ivory tower if he would avoid the contamination of transient or plebeian opinions. Not a few of these essays, then, are worthy of attention for the various and admirable ways in which gifted personalities have expressed themselves. Irony and sympathetic partiality for one's subject and straightforward sobriety of style are all represented. There are examples of the loosely constructed essay and the closely logical, of writing colored by the vernacular of our daily speech and the elevated language of poetry. Head-notes have been inserted before each essay, not to give irrelevant information about the author, but to make conspicuous these different qualities of style, these different kinds of essays, as well as the variety (which has already been mentioned) in their methods of attack upon subjects of general interest to American readers to-day. |