Life, 1910-12-15 · page 39 of 44
Life — December 15, 1910 — page 39: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **literary criticism column** with advertisements. The main article, "The Literary Zoo," critiques novelist Gertrude Atherton for her distinctive (and apparently affected) habit of consistently choosing the "wrong word" in her writing—yet doing so deliberately and skillfully. The author argues this style works in her novel *Tower of Ivory*, comparing it to how mystery writers like Poe succeed through what they *omit* rather than include. The piece uses literary references (George Eliot, Jane Austen, Doctor Watts) familiar to educated readers of the era to discuss craft. The page also contains **period advertisements**: a Waltham Watch Company ad featuring an illustration of a watchmaker, Winslow roller skates, and Caron-Paris perfume. These ads are typical of *Life* magazine's business model. For modern readers: this reflects early 20th-century literary taste and the assumption that readers recognized both canonical authors and contemporary novelists by name.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Literary Zoo (Concluded from page 1123) YEnclos did the wrong thing. Practice, constant practice, alone has made it possible for Gertrude Atherton to get the wrong word invariably. It fits her style in Tower of Ivory, for instance, like a garment. The wrong word that finds its way into each sentence de- scribing the hero of that novel is al- ways subtly premeditated, The right word for him is, of course and nat- urally, “cad,” and a George Eliot or a Jane Austen would have used it in- stinctively, One feels that Gertrude Atherton knew the right one, too, but with what consummate art she selects the wrong one! The Gift For Mystification _ Any mediocrity should mystify a Bee Umea 1 Hee pene ; aad ‘It's lime af lity lends itself to intrigue and plot. 1 Sou ownea, A story with Doctor Isaac Watts in it, f f 1 a Waltham cn the other hand, ought to be dull. 3 . In the same way, the properties of a i tale——the things mentioned in it—im- . * yart the element of mystery or destroy What more appropriate, acceptable, and enduring it altogether; Compare, from: this gift than a watch? Waltham has been the watch point of view, a drove of cows with a nest of serpents The cows seem pro- favorite of social as well as of business and in- saic, like Doctor Isaac Watts, whereas the cecpemns suggest the! sabile; ike dustrial life for nearly three-quarters of a century. Josephine. The secret of the short story is all there. Clever as are the books devoted to the art of the short story, they are too reticen: on this point. They neglect to point out wherein Poe and De Maupassant dis- played this gift for mystification. has beauty to commend it, usefulness, reliability Mystification consists in the avoidance iia Dosenimacowete andiie fe, and integrity to make first impressions permanent. ploitation of a Josephine, the eschew- It is a watch that flatters the recipient and keeps ing of the cow and the utilization of the serpent. Hf a man must. tell a the donor in constant and grateful recollection. short story with a cow in it, let the There is no more perfect specimen of watch making than the Waltham animal be a sacred cow, one conse- Colonial. Made as thin as it is safe to make a reliable time piece, it crated, say, to Vishnu. Upon the is the last word in the watchmaker's art. At all JEWELERS, from same principl thor det $50 to $175. Write for handsome booklet. describing the various me principle, were an author deter- Waltham movements and learn the une best suited to your needs. mined to drag Doctor Isaac Watts into WALTHAM WATCH COMPANY, : WALTHAM. MASS. a short story, the dramatic thing would be to make him act hke John Drew. It may be objected that nobody could act like John Drew. That is not the question. Could John Drew live like Doctor Watts? Alexander Harvey. Swiftest, Strongest, Sportiest Skate on the Ice. Dealers everywhere. Catalogues free. 2. Artistic Perfumer. THE SAMUEL WINSLOW SKATE MFG. CO., Worcester, Mass.,U S. A. aron= aris His Latest Novelty, New York, #4, Chambers Street. London. 8 Long Lane, E. C, *- MIMOSA’’ Exe Fact. Paris, 4, Avenue de la Grande - Bold by the Best Steres. 1127