Literature in the Making by some of its makers   By: Various

PRESENTED BY JOYCE KILMER

[Illustration]

HARPER & BROTHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON

Copyright, 1917, by Harper & Brothers Printed in the United States of America Published April, 1917

TO LOUIS BEVIER, PH.D., LITT.D. AND LOUIS BEVIER, JR.

CONTENTS

PAGE

WAR STOPS LITERATURE 3

WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS

William Dean Howells, the foremost American novelist of his generation, was born at Martin's Ferry, Ohio, March 11, 1837. Most of his many novels have been realistic and sympathetic studies of contemporary American life. For some years he has written "The Editor's Easy Chair" in Harper's Magazine . He has received honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, Oxford, and Columbia, and in 1915 the National Institute of Arts and Letters awarded him its Gold Medal "For distinguished work in fiction." The Daughter of the Storage and Years of My Youth are his latest books.

THE JOYS OF THE POOR 19

KATHLEEN NORRIS

Kathleen Norris was born in San Francisco, California, July 16, 1880. She is the wife of Charles Gilman Norris, himself a writer and the brother of the late Frank Norris. Among Mrs. Norris's best known novels are Mother , The Story of Julia Page , and The Heart of Rachel .

NATIONAL PROSPERITY AND ART 35

BOOTH TARKINGTON

Booth Tarkington was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, July 29, 1869. A prolific and brilliant writer, he has scored many successes of different types, being the author of the romantic drama Monsieur Beaucaire , and of many novels dealing with contemporary Middle Western life. Recently he has, in Seventeen and the "Penrod" stories, given his attention to the comedies and tragedies of American youth.

ROMANTICISM AND AMERICAN HUMOR 45

MONTAGUE GLASS

Montague Glass was born at Manchester, England, July 23, 1877. Coming in his youth to the United States, he brought into American fiction a new type that of the metropolitan Jewish American business man. His Potash and Perlmutter and Abe and Mawruss have given him a European as well as an American reputation.

THE "MOVIES" BENEFIT LITERATURE 63

REX BEACH

Rex Beach was born at Atwood, Michigan, September 1, 1877. His novels deal chiefly with the West and the North, and his favorite theme is adventurous life in the open. Among his best known books are The Spoilers , The Silver Horde , and Rainbow's End .

WHAT IS GENIUS? 75

ROBERT W. CHAMBERS

Robert W. Chambers was born in Brooklyn, New York, May 26, 1865. One of the most widely read writers of his time, he has given his attention chiefly to English and American society, making it the theme of a large number of novels, among which may be mentioned The Fighting Chance , Japonette , and Athalie .

DETERIORATION OF THE SHORT STORY 89

JAMES LANE ALLEN

James Lane Allen was born near Lexington, Kentucky, in 1849. In 1886 he gave up his profession of teaching to devote his attention to literature. Many of his novels deal with the South. Of them perhaps The Kentucky Cardinal and The Choir Invisible are best known.

SOME HARMFUL INFLUENCES 101

HARRY LEON WILSON