And in a narrower department, no development of recent years has borne a more cheerful promise than the resolution of four publishers to associate themselves in an enterprise the disinterestedness of which the reader is invited to assess for himself.
The entire responsibility for the estimates and opinions offered (where they are not directly attributed) is mine. I have tried to tell the truth, use my imagination legitimately, and observe good taste without the sacrifice of valuable insights into character and work.
For example, in addition to biographical facts, in themselves often unenlightening, I have usually tried, as in the account of Mr. Galsworthy, to disclose the personality so carefully (albeit high-mindedly) withheld from the writer’s books. Again, as in the chapter on Joseph Conrad, aside from the effort at novelty and freshness of interest by the device of adopting Conrad’s own Marlow as the narrator, I have made bold to set down some facts never before printed and not in the least generally known, because they seem to me a side of the picture that it is wrong to obscure.
The wealth of material spread before me has made the task of selection exceedingly difficult, and I cannot pretend to be satisfied with what I have chosen in the light of my knowledge of what has had to be left out. I owe a grateful acknowledgment to the publishers and to individuals in the several publishing houses for their generous assistance.
1 August, 1923.
Grant Overton.
Contents
| [1] | MR. GALSWORTHY’S SECRET LOYALTIES, 13 |
| [2] | THE MAGIC CARPET, 34 |
| [3] | A BREATHLESS CHAPTER, 51 |
| [4] | IN THE KINGDOM OF CONRAD, 64 |
| [5] | THE DOCUMENTS IN THE CASE OF ARTHUR TRAIN, 91 |
| [6] | THE LADY OF A TRADITION, MISS SACKVILLE-WEST, 102 |
| [7] | HAROLD BELL WRIGHT, 119 |
| [8] | “AH, DID YOU ONCE SEE SHELLEY PLAIN?” 139 |
| [9] | ALICE IN AUTHORLAND AND PENROD’S FIVE-FOOT SHELF, 157 |
| [10] | THE MAN CALLED RALPH CONNOR, 178 |
| [11] | HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE, 189 |
| [12] | TOTALLING MR. TARKINGTON, 217 |
| [13] | A PARODY OUTLINE OF STEWART, 239 |
| [14] | MISS ZONA GALE, 248 |
| [15] | FOR THE LITERARY INVESTOR, 255 |
| [16] | NATURALIST VS. NOVELIST: GENE STRATTON-PORTER, 270 |
| [17] | POETRY AND PLAYS, 293 |
| [18] | LOST PATTERNS, 313 |
| [19] | JOSEPH C. LINCOLN DISCOVERS CAPE COD, 321 |
| [20] | EDITH WHARTON AND THE TIME SPIRIT, 345 |
| [21] | THE UNCLASSIFIED CASE OF CHRISTOPHER MORLEY, 363 |
| [22] | THE PROPHECIES OF LOTHROP STODDARD, 380 |
| INDEX, [387] |