LITERARY CHAOS

The journalist's modern problem, it would seem, is over-production. When one looks at the over-laden newsstands and magazine racks, and notes the same authors in periodical after periodical, it is scarcely to be wondered that most of the writing is make-shift and haphazard. Criticism, especially, is filling more and more space; in fact it is the proving-ground of many a young writer, and the incidental odd-jobbery of older hands at the literary game. But it is not highly paid, and since much of it is under commercial influences, it is perfunctory at best, and usually unreliable. A prominent professor, who has won increasing prominence as a critic, seems to act on the principle that indiscriminate praise is a safe pass-key for his reviews; consequently, his authority is quoted on the wrapper of every other new volume, and a collection of these dicta would supply a vocabulary of superlatives.

With the output of books increasing at an equal pace, and with such uncertain means for judgment, the casual reader and the book-buyer are put to it to make profitable selections. The desert-island test of a book's value, recently restored to academic popularity, would find little, nowadays, that could be passed.