"LITERARY TASTE."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 657, 6 November 1909, Page 9

"LITERARY TASTE."

■ It is 1 a theme for-everyone, a universal, par*. able: of .the; life of 'the mind (says the' "'West-; minster Gazette," reviewing Mr. Arnold Bennett's book.on '/Literary Taste"). For.iwhataman. loves best he will express by his free • choice, whether of books,'of friends, or of an occupation.' It'is a: theme'which is never' out-: worn.'for it takes a new . aspect at each reflec- : tioni' aiid in tlie telling of an honest man'be- ; comes an autobiography.;:' But Mr.'Arnold, Ben- . nett's book,!is,'not the confession of a- placid mind "living iri'a-world ; of , ;letters,;nor the in-.' i auTgence.'of; an' analytjc:'.iconoclast.'; /We 'find . him in the rairie niood 'iniwhich hoiwrote "How ; to' Become an Author"/and'"The Human; chine"—an. impetuous' moodj overflowing: with , energy, eager tQ .teach the unblessed mdily the ; secret of his owtf v \vivid enjoyment of life. . We .'can'.dpfine. .in this : connection ; fairly'accurately\they.'; are, the -readers' 'of trash, the great- bulk that finds no; enjoyment in reading literature; those who, should; they , become oar arbiters, would drop, nearly every .classic,.': including from our public, substitute' "magazines newish fiction."' In order to work his .miracle, '.to arouse, these: sweet-sucking loafers' among 'printedmatter .'from their , sloth, Mr. Bennett •has essayed . to. give them 'a glimpse: of what literature is, and to instruct them in the acquisition of a cultivated taste.; "The- makers of literature,"- .he says,-"are . those who have seen- and; felt . the miraculous interestiiigness of tho.universe. And the greatest 'makers :c.f 'literature are" those whose vision' has been the and, whose feeling has been the most in-.' 'tense." For Mr. Bennett's purpose the "definition is sufficient, and because >ne has plainly and without qualification addressed his work to the class of readers; we have iindicated, we feel that any,' criticism should bo directed to his methods of conveying enlightenment and not: at his .theory of the purpose and means of literature. This,' more particularly, inasmuch as we are in complete sympathy with his object and. believothat lie is attacking the. problem at .the right end by appealing to the buyers of printed ■matterciather than . by. denunciation 'of ! the sellers—the method no essayed in- "What the Public Wants" : So long there persists a demand ( for the : appalling bulk of pernicious and nauseating trasn which ;is read daily by. otherwise intelligent men and women,- just so 'long will "other\ men and women be found immoral "enough to write and, sell the trash. If the revolution is'.to be effected it :;is the reading niass^s; that iniist'/be converted, : for everyone,of them becomes-iio. tentially an agent for further production. Mr. Bennett,; by. way of defining tho true arbiters 'of taste," says .that it .is by tho passionate ■few> that the, renown of genius is- kept .alive from one generation to another;":' T Thiß'. definition serves to point .the intrinsic reason for the manufacture 0 f printed -'.poison; - Mental inertia; Jack of ..intellectual vitality, ...is. the sickness; wo : have to combat. The ,average worker, .suffers from the delusion that after eight, nine, Or ten hours spent in< an offico' his .or her brain requires rest and relaxation. ' Thesei drowsers believe faithfully that' they •will find a'cure for. their lassitnde.in the reading of ■ fouilletons' which call "for, no •' cxercise' either .'of! th6irea?on or the imagination. :;lt is' as if a' man were suffering from atrophied* mus'cles. and 'attempted, a cure by 'takingi/soporifics, -for there is.a close and true analogy: in this matter, between the functions of. the, mind 'and those of the othey organs'of ".the' body. pleads,:to paralysis of ..• certain 1 contres, exercise, to 'development. The tired men or women who .'complain that they cannot' read '~ what they term . "deep books" in, the evening nor go to any entertainment, more in-: tolleotual than a music-hall or a musical comedy-; are suffering .from atrophy of the reason andvtho imagination. It is a wasting- sickness fatal to tho. mind, but it can be cured if taken in time, say befori tho age of forty. ■ At : tho beginning the .cure is immensely difficult;;.it compels 'the use of faculties which have not beon. employed, during the day in adding 'figures, tho uso of. the typewriter,, or, .other rfieohanical office work ;, it compels the'patient to think. This'is a fatiguing oxeroise at .first to. those who have: never, prootised. it, arid tries the.novico in much the same way: as: tfcj'first ride on: a bicycle tries tho, lesseWisediithigh' muscles. '; Wo. need'carry the .parallel 'no ;further; the veriest .automaton can'develop it and apply it to his or her own particular case. We had intended to combat ono point in Mr. Bennett's book,' since we nro: completely .'at variance with him on his . treatment 4: .of tho "Question: of Style," but wc have, been led away by," our enthusiasm for:his-main theme into elaborating .- a . lesson . whichV tTeated- 1 rriore tfefihitelyHri'his-book "The "Human .Mai chine," and has, therefore, perhaps .dwelt "less • iK'V/:-'-'' : -r '-iv

upon in the present work, where 1 : it also belongs. . We feel that he has']aid'too"*littlestress' on the"exercise! of the reason and tho imagination in his essay on the formation of taste in' literature. The most "superficial analysis discovers- that ,the makers-of literature, "those 1 whose vision'lias been the-widest,-and-whose I feeling has been the :most intense," can ap- ' peal only to those who endeavour to grasp the . .full intention of the writer, an intention that can never be perfectly displayed by tho enm- ' brous instrument of written language. The lovers of literature, the'"passionate few," exercise powers of apprehension,, whether innate j or . cultivated, without conscious • effort, and J derive much, perhaps the better parti of.their ; pleasure- in-reading good literature from' the j stimulus.given to their own creative faculty. < For there has never yet been a-great work' of j literature that has not provided material for ( at least a - dozen other good books—not neces- , sariljr on'the same theme—and all" lovers of t literature possess powers'of creation though j they may-not have the gift of expression nor < over -be able to acquire it. . . <