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    THE AUTHOR® MANUAL.* We think we can see...

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    THE BOOKS OF THE DAV. At ZJLII the tlHJ ...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

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    1172 The Publishers' Circular Oct h l 8

    The Author® Manual.* We Think We Can See...

    THE AUTHOR ® MANUAL . * We think we can see the literary tyro

    rubbing his hands gleefully after reading Mr . Percy Russell ' s Guideand hear him ing to

    , say himself , * Eureka ! The secret is mine at last . I have but to follow the rules here

    prescribed , and fame and wealth are mine . Now publishers and the public will bow down to

    me . ' For ourselves , however , we must confess , that our faith in rules for the production of

    literature is not strong . Certain mechanical rules the literary man must indeed obey , for

    in literature , as in most other things , there are conventions that cannot safely be disregarded .

    But the vital part of a book must , we fancy , ever — — remain independent of arbitrary precepts —

    for fixed rules do not help to originate •/ A ideas Mi , . The real writer is born not made . At the

    same time an Authors' Manual can hardly fail to be interestingand in certain directions it

    may even be serviceable , . The value of Mr . Russell ' s work is chiefly on the negative side .

    It tells the beginner , indeed , a great deal concerning what he may and should do ; but it

    likewise tells him what he may not and should not do . It is in the latter respect that its counsels are likely to prove most useful .

    Mr . Russell ' s book is a manual for journalists as well as for authors . From an

    ephemeral paragraph for a daily paper to a I stately epic for all time there is nothing in the

    literary line with which it does not deal , and i deal elaborately «/ . Reporting X CJ , Editing fc-J , Leader-

    writing , Reviewing , Poetry , the Drama , Fiction , & c are all exhaustively treated . On

    journalism , Mr . Russell seems •/ to speak o from personal experience , and his counsels will no

    doijbt help many an aspirant for journalistic perhaps honours who because -v is in he danger lacks of talent sinking as , not because so much he \ j

    lacks _ - ^^ ^^_ - ^^_ — _ - - _ - training _ - ^ . — ~ — — — ~ - and does not know how , g to make — — — the best UCDVUi of his nio powers yunuiOi . On v 11 Reviewing xvu y iv ti me , xij Mr . 1 . . R xvuoovu ussell'u s

    remarks are very artless , and candid . ' At ; first' he says ' the young reviewer should

    reall , y read what •/ , he undertakes «/<_> to criticise . This will take time , but save much in the

    end . ' The practised reviewer , the hardened sinner who p lay •/ s with reputations m . as if

    they were soap bubbles , is not expected i to read what he undertakes l to criticise , j

    To him it is permissible to take in the i general meaning of pages on pages' by the ' easy — —process of turning over the leaves while

    attending # x to a cigar . * - * We trust Mr . Russell's book will not fall into this gentleman ' s hands .

    Style is always an interesting topic to those who ., — _ deliberatel — _ ^ p- y resolve to temp ^ t Fate by ^ j

    writing of course a book some , and advice on to style ive Mr . . Of Russell his own has g

    methods of acquiring a mastery over words he — ives — — us — some interesting g qj limpses . ' At the

    g ^^ - -- ^ j j ^ outset 4 1 — paid of much my own attention literary to career words , ' reading he tells the us ,

    JL , CP " Imperial Dictionary " quite through . ' The ^ Irishman ^^ m ^^ m ^^ . . p ^^ ^^ —¦ — - ¦ - — *~ who ~ ~ ¦ read the - dictionary - m thro — ug j m h

    complained that it changed the subject too often for his taste . Mr . Russell makes no

    * T / ie Author * ' Manual : a Complete and Practical Guide to all Branches of Literary Workby Peyoy Bueaell . London :

    , Digby & Long .

    such complaint , and of course if one wants words the dictionary is the treasury to draw from the idration

    upon . Passing conse of style some we come of which upon are minute sound directions and sensible to the others poet

    superfluous and absurd . To know that' the , sonnet must — be - ~ - —~ composed — — W ^ ^^ ^^ of ^^ ^^ verses ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ of ^ " ^ ^^ five ^*^» ™ ^ l ^ r feet ^ L ^^ J ^^ J K J each Cj ^ 9 III heroic and have

    in which measure case a , line — will may have — eleven — double — rh llables j ymes ' '

    but skill only five accents - ' is not to -w - comprehend w •* sy «^ y j % JQ I . J m W ^ 9 t the mystery Russell has of poetry . As might be expected

    Mr . much to say respecting fiction ' and on the whole we are inclined - to think & the

    of chapters l the j volume on the ii dealing novel - 1 the 11 with - best 1 books i in __„ the . v ^ He ^ aaa portion v does tllg not secretsdoes

    impart any . He not tell how stories are conceived ; the first movements / of

    — — — j — — — — ___ , ^^ - »»»^^^ wU \ -Fi the 11 mind 1 in the 11 process of •» imaginative « creation are not to be inquired into and explained . At

    any rate they are not explained in the volume before us , but there - are --- instructions - ^ — — respecting ^— -w r »_ . g , ^ - ^^ ^^ ViAXCi

    the h preparation te find of useful manuscri — and there pt which "" the neop 1 ymay ¦ ¦ are ^ some f j /

    sensible taking j ^ trouble remarks ^/ which on the we speciall absolute , y ¦ y commend necessit ~ ^ - » «* y a to of * V

    ft j ^ ^ » — — — —» — — - ^^ ^^ ^^ V *^ the I ^ ¦ attention * of literary ^ m aspirants # > . Mr ^^ ^^ . Russell lays stress too on the need to cultivate b the

    adjnonishes habit ^ g of mental the composition young -. — — — - writer . 'Do ' like -v *_ - ^_ ^^ ^ not T «^^ Victor ^ r ^ 0 , ' he ^ ^^

    Hugo stillon or oft Balzac -corrected , compose proofs on . paper No one , or , oug worse ht

    to take , up the pen before he is ready to write . Scott ¦ wrote rapidlyand his manuscript

    ex-| hibits but few alterations M , j . Let — — — it not — ^^ ^^ be ^^ W ^^ sup ^^ ^^^ - posed that he composed when he wrote . ' Has

    Mr . Russell forgotten Scott's confession that when he began a chapter he had no idea how

    it was to go 1 In general the most interesting chapter in the book is that on remuneration .

    book To read is enoug that Dickens h to turn received an ordinary — £ 24 , 000 man — for green j-j one

    know with envy that , and o ' a the novel beginner at all will saleable be ^ pleased should to

    return from £ 100 to £ 500 , and a good writer can produce at least two fictions a year . ' We

    fear that there Mr . Russell is himself produnovel cing a as little much ^ k fiction as ^/ l ^ # . the 4 h Georg best J f <^ e writer Eliot Jh Jfc thoug could ht write one

    ^ ** ^^ * ^^ ** ^ swr **^ A w ^^^ ^^ w ^* amL * fc ^* ri . r T v ^ v ^^^ ' ^^^ ^ " ^ ^^* *^ ^~^ satisfactori how man l y first in a year novels ; a nc ^^ P return as to re m £ 500 unera 1 tion We ,

    notice one y or two mistakes in the indexing , but on the whole the work bears evidence of not

    | g fre rea e t fro care m blemishes and resea , r is ch agreeable , and the . style , if » o «

    The Books Of The Dav. At Zjlii The Tlhj ...

    THE BOOKS OF THE DAV . At the tlHJ annual dHAll meeting of the Libra JJlMiAas <>

    -ZJLII IAMjJ . AJUV 3 V 7 UAAA { £ KJM . l / JUU " * ry , ; Maunde Maund ciation e at Thom Thomnson Reading pson , . the Uhiei Chief president Lib Librarian rarian , Mr of 01 . the ^ E .

    tive British 1 / address Museum , gave libraries , a thoug and htful the and instruc literary

    reproducing tendencies j . vo autAJ . coo of the the on uu day ist xiuiaixco of . it We from take u > iiu . the the ma * w liberty report *¦ £ * in of

    M . KJJJM . KJ \ AlA \ jXll . f £ U 11 C 7 g glOU Ul 11 / XJLISJHA u ** v / ~ - gratulate the Times the . Mr Association . Thompson said the position he must which

    conli librarv it brary held , movement movement and also , on one one the ol of on the the success cmei chief of requu requisites the free ^ --

    Libraries of modern Act civilised was , at life first . alow The adop the great tion of centre the ,

    If of they the movement drew a ban l d ying across in the the central country counties extena- . ^^

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), Oct. 1, 1890, page 1172, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_01101890/page/14/