Life, 1901-06-06 · page 11 of 28
Life — June 6, 1901 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 491 This page satirizes literary pretension, particularly targeting prolific authors of the era. The top cartoon shows a group of men in formal dress labeled "We're a gallant crew," likely representing contemporary writers competing for acclaim. The central illustration depicts a caricatured author (labeled "I'm the Simon pure") surrounded by manuscript pages, working frantically at his desk. The accompanying poem by S. Weir Mitchell mocks writers who produce excessive volumes of mediocre work, boasting about novels, plays, and poems simultaneously. The satire critiques the publishing industry's reward of quantity over quality—writers churning out numerous works ("excite your emulation") while claiming artistic integrity. The "Simon pure" reference means genuine/authentic, ironically applied to someone clearly manufacturing content rather than creating meaningful literature.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
No! we are not the only ones We humbly beg to state. (AC this point they are interrupted sudderty by the famous rer.ter, 8, Weir Mitchell, who rides up tn an automobile. He carries in one hand a bag of curgical instrun ments, on his back ie strapped a type- toriter, and under his other arm is a Auge tundle of manuscript.) Soro. 8. Weim Mitcnent., ‘Tut, tut, tut, tut, tut, tut! You may be quite convivial, But compared with m You're not in it. You're both immensely trivial. the morning sun as begun a novel I've finished ; And a play or so I write ere I go ‘To bed, zeal undiminished. As I operate, Let me beg to state A poem I may be inditing, And when Tam blue, A short story or two Is the loveliest kind of typewriting So I say, Tut! Tut! And again Tut! Tut! I'll excite your emulation, For in “literachure” I'm the Simon pure And a monster aggregation, We're a gallant crew, Cnones. There is nothing he cannot do. He excites all emulation. “Tm the Simon pure.” He makes books to read with a lightning speed ; He's a monster aggregation | (Here advance to the front, to the muste of Afe and drum and under changing colored lights, a group composed of W. D, Howdls, Eduin Markham, James Lane Allen, Elizabeth Stuart Phitps, John Kendrick Langs, Ireing Bachlter, Amdia Darr, Frank Stockton, Thomas Nason Page and F. Hopkinson Smath.) Cronus or Prnoration, Sing Ho! for the sound of the bil- lows of ink nually beg us for more. Sing Ho! for the rot that we are turningout, —* And Ho! for the future that looms On the houses and lots instead of the plots Where will stand our forgotten tombs. For we live for to-day, And we toil for our pay ; We're a cluster of rare Juminosity. We're a gallant crew With nothing to do But thrive upon “ads” and pom- posity (Rep Fine axp Cortars.) Tom Masson. comicbooks.com