DOI article:
Books: a letter to the editor and an offer of a prize
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27806#0145
From “The Yellow Dwarf” 141
Hubert Crackanthorpe’s Sentimental Studies, the other Mr. George
Moore’s Celibates.
In dealing with Mr. Crackanthorpe’s book, my prize-critics
will kindly give attention to the actuality of his subjects, the clear-
ness of his psychological insight, the intensity of his realisation,
the convincingness of his presentation, and the sincerity and
dignity of his manner. At the same time, they will point out
that Mr. Crackanthorpe often says too much, that he is reluctant
to leave anything to his reader’s imagination, his reader’s experi-
ence. He doesn’t make enough allowance for his reader’s native
intelligence. He forgets that the golden rule in writing is simply
a paraphrase of the other Golden Rule : Write as you would be
written to. Mr. Crackanthorpe strains a little too hard, a little
too visibly, for the mot juste. But the mot juste is sometimes not
the best word to use. One must know what the mot juste is, but
sometimes one should erase it and substitute the de?ni-mot. And
then isn’t Mr. Crackanthorpe handicapped as an artist by a trifle
too much moral earnestness ? Moral earnestness in life, I daresay,
does more good than harm ; but in Art, if present at all, it should
be concealed like a vice. Mr. Crackanthorpe hardly takes pains
enough to conceal his. If he won’t abandon it—if he won’t leave
it to such writers as the author of Trilby and Miss Annie S.
Swann—he should at least hide it under mountains of artistry.
And now for Celibates. Celibates is an important book; I’m
not quite sure that Celibates isn’t a great book, but Celibates is
assuredly a most perplexing, a most exasperating book. How one
and the same man can write as ill and as well, as execrably and as
effectively, as Mr. George Moore writes, passes my comprehen-
sion. His style, for instance. His style is atrocious, and his style
is almost classical. His style is like chopped straw, and his style
is like architecture. In its material, in its words, phrases, sen-
The Yellow Book—Vol. VII. i tences.
Hubert Crackanthorpe’s Sentimental Studies, the other Mr. George
Moore’s Celibates.
In dealing with Mr. Crackanthorpe’s book, my prize-critics
will kindly give attention to the actuality of his subjects, the clear-
ness of his psychological insight, the intensity of his realisation,
the convincingness of his presentation, and the sincerity and
dignity of his manner. At the same time, they will point out
that Mr. Crackanthorpe often says too much, that he is reluctant
to leave anything to his reader’s imagination, his reader’s experi-
ence. He doesn’t make enough allowance for his reader’s native
intelligence. He forgets that the golden rule in writing is simply
a paraphrase of the other Golden Rule : Write as you would be
written to. Mr. Crackanthorpe strains a little too hard, a little
too visibly, for the mot juste. But the mot juste is sometimes not
the best word to use. One must know what the mot juste is, but
sometimes one should erase it and substitute the de?ni-mot. And
then isn’t Mr. Crackanthorpe handicapped as an artist by a trifle
too much moral earnestness ? Moral earnestness in life, I daresay,
does more good than harm ; but in Art, if present at all, it should
be concealed like a vice. Mr. Crackanthorpe hardly takes pains
enough to conceal his. If he won’t abandon it—if he won’t leave
it to such writers as the author of Trilby and Miss Annie S.
Swann—he should at least hide it under mountains of artistry.
And now for Celibates. Celibates is an important book; I’m
not quite sure that Celibates isn’t a great book, but Celibates is
assuredly a most perplexing, a most exasperating book. How one
and the same man can write as ill and as well, as execrably and as
effectively, as Mr. George Moore writes, passes my comprehen-
sion. His style, for instance. His style is atrocious, and his style
is almost classical. His style is like chopped straw, and his style
is like architecture. In its material, in its words, phrases, sen-
The Yellow Book—Vol. VII. i tences.