ached Paris only a quarter
of an hour late for dinner. And I congratulated myself on my calmness and
perfect presence of mind in a railway accident. Only "L'Eve Future" was
not in my bag. I had forgotten it, and my presence of mind had thus been
imperfect. I did not buy another copy of "L'Eve Future," and I don't think
I ever shall, now.

"FICTION" AND "LITERATURE"

[_31 Aug '11_]

Publishers' advertisements of imaginative work are so constantly curious
that one gets accustomed to their bizarre qualities and refrains from
comment. But Messrs. Hutchinson, who are evidently rather proud of having
secured Lucas Malet's new long novel, have thought of a new adjective, and
the event must be chronicled. They are announcing to the world that Lucas
Malet's new novel is "literary"--"the literary novel of the autumn." I
cannot be quite sure what this means, but it is probably intended to
signify that, in the opinion of Messrs. Hutchinson, Lucas Malet's novel is
very special--that is to say, it is not a mere novel. Less adroit
publishers than Messrs. Hutchinson might have described it as an "art
novel." (_Cf._ "art furniture," all up Tottenham Court Road.) Some of the
most esteemed provincial dailies have a column headed "Literature" on five
days of the week, but on the sixth day that column is headed "New
Fiction." You see the distinction. Messrs. Hutchinson are doubtless
hinting to the provinces that the new book is something between
"literature" and "fiction," and combines the superior attributes of both.
Once the _Athenaeum_, apparently staggered by the discovery that Joseph
Conrad existed, reviewed a novel of his under the rubric of "Literature,"
instead of with other novels under the rubric of "Fiction." Messrs.
Hutchinson have possibly an eye also on the _Athenaeum_. Personally, I
would not permit my publishers to advertise a novel of mine as literary.
But on the whole I wouldn't seriously object to the adjective
"unliterary."

INDEX

Academies, French and British, 81
Academy, the British, 228-234
_Academy_, the, under the editorship of Mr. Hind, 4, 19;
under other controls, 38, 64
Advertisements, 300
Agents, literary, 22, 72
Aid, State, for the artist, 319
Albert, Henri, 78
Alexander, Sir George, 63
American postal censorship, 193
Anderson, Sir Robert, 193
Andreief, Leonide, 224
_Anglo-Saxon_, the, 243
Anthologies, 5
Antoine, director of the Odeon, 257, 259
Apoutkine, 225
Archer, William, 140