PARAGRAPHS ABOUT AUTHORS

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1461, 8 June 1912, Page 9

PARAGRAPHS ABOUT AUTHORS

Critics in England have always looked Askance upon volumes that furnished gossip' about literary people, and even such a book as "Tennyson and His Friends" was condemned by one of the weeklies as entering (" an undue appetite, upon the part of t|io reading public- for informal ion about the private life of illustrious authors. If such an appelite exists in this country it is not, at anv rale, en abundantly fed as it is across the Atlantic. There biographical, and especially autobiographical information, the more dc- ' tailed I ho better.. has always been recognised as ijijo of the best forms of advertisement, and Ins always been sure of a welcome. Within the last few years however, some of the publishers havo been taking the-curious step of applying to their more popular' British authors' for autobiographies, and these they print in pamphlet form for circulation gratis among their readers. Mr. Galsworthy wns applied to, and, although be seems to havo hud qualms, about the autobiographical form, hiy yet furnished, material'' enough to enable bis publishers to issue a booklet, which traces his life and development, nud contains, "largely in his

own words," a fuller explanation of his purpose, than lias probably been printed elsewhere. Mr. Oppenheim docs not .shirk the autobiography, and if there is in either hemisphere anyone who is interested in the. personality of Mr. E. Phillips Opponheiin, ho may have, on application to his American publishers, tho writer's story, of his own earccr in tlio form of a pamphlet enriched with "piclures of Mr. Oppenheim and his family, his Kuglisli home, illustrations from his recent b;:oks, etc." Homo of tho magazines follow a. similar practice. Thus ■one who takes up n. cony of tho "Forum" finds, prefixed to Iho'usual assortment of excellent articles, a pago or two of _ summaries of the lives of (ho writers of them, furnished often by tho writers themselves. ]n the caso of writers of fiction Ibis practice is generally futile, but it is interesting to learn from the current issue that the author of tho short story "The Mask," which attracted soma attention in the January number of Hie "Hnglish J.'evicw," is ii grandchild of that sister of Tennyson's who was to have married Arthur Hallam. I'Vom Iho magazines to the newspapers is no long step, and in (be latter (hero is no lack of paragraphs that give trivial information about inconspicuous men of Ictle.rs-that fell us, lor example, that "Mr. Sn-and-Ko. I lie author of the famous novel 'Sucli-and-Such,' is on tho eve ofleaving for California, where he will collect local colour for his next work." or that "Mr. 'f his-and-Thal, Iho gifted author of 'Tho JOlher Thing,' having always had a fancv for tho cultivation of flowers and vegetables, lias resolved to leave Iho lown whero ho has hitherto dwelt and to live Iho .simple life, in a suburban villa." Wo know something about such paragraphs on Ihis side.also, but a writer, discussing them in the -\ew York "Bookman." tells us that' most of the publishing houses keep a "bright young man" for the purpose of collecting such information and distributing it among tho newspapers; ho- is young "because his salary is consistent only with thankfulness mid hope," and bright "because his duties demand brightness." The writer ill question thinks'that, the existence'of ■ such paragraphs is duo to a series of misapprehensions. The publishers issue Ilium under the mistaken apprehension that their authors like them; the newspapers print them under Ihe mistaken apprehension that the publishers like them and will recompense them with advertisements; while the authors put up with them under tho mistaken apprehension that thoy are a necessary part of the game. One may submit, however, as an allei-nalivo theory, that the publishers like them because they advertise their books; tho newspapers "like them bceauso they interest their readers; and, finally, the authors like them because, as human beings, they would rather be talked about than , not.—"Manchester. Ciunrdiuii,"