Life, 1911-12-07 · page 104 of 112
Life — December 7, 1911 — page 104: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine combines satirical poetry with advertisements and lighter humor. The main content is "Letters to the Literati: To Arnold Bennett"—a playful poem addressing the famous British novelist Arnold Bennett. The satirist (attributed to Arthur Guiterman) praises Bennett's writing talent while gently mocking literary debates of the era. The poem argues *against* rigid realism in fiction, defending the value of imagination, romanticism, and literary giants like Dickens and Thackeray against Bennett's apparent advocacy for more factual, realistic writing. The closing joke suggests Bennett himself has "monkeyed with Improbability" in works like "Buried Alive." The cartoon "I've got you Beaten, Dad" shows a billiards game—a visual pun about losing at pool, advertising Burrowes billiard tables. The page is otherwise filled with period advertisements for champagne, beauty treatments (Lashgrow), and other products—typical of *Life's* revenue model as a magazine.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Letters to the Literati To Arnold Bennett “There are nine and sixty ways of con- structing tribal lays, And-every-single-one-of-them-is-right.” —Copyright, So -or-other, by Rud- yord Kiph Dear Mr. Bennett, we love you exces- sively; Scorning pretences, you write so expres- me in the shrine of her sacred Acrop- olis Treasures your tales of your § 1 Pentopolis. You are a Master, and that in no petty sense, Curbed, as a rule, by a different reti cence; So, when you lecture on fiction—-why. Dlow it all! ee got you Beaten, Dad” Missed! One pone shot, and the game 18 Lost situations 6 reason for the Intense fascination of Billiards and Pool, ‘You can have In your own homea BURROWES Billiard and Pool Table 5, ete..on terms of amount each month. y] FREE TRIAL -NO RED TAPE —im J E. T. Burrowes Co., 1210 Center St., Portland, Me. uate Wine i in and Don't make believe that you think that you know it all! Others have sunk in the slough you are falling in; Where is the sense or the value of wall- ing in Genius and Art (and a beautiful word it is!)? Plague on your “Schools” and their priggish absurdities! What! must.we banish our Dickens and Thackeray, Drag poor old Pegasus off to the knackery, Smother Dumas whom our infancy grew upon, Lock up Sir Walter for bookworms to chew upon? No! © we honor your vigorous Je us Romantic Idealists > in the woods t hai Is, Men have been sadly addicted to fairy discarded their fancy so lively and antical? can't we be just a trifle roman- ical? When one is rearing an epic or serial Facts are—such excellent building ma- terial! ‘Life is our text!" shall we cry to the gallery? Life is a wilder romancer than Malory. Life, by example and precept admon- ishing, Frolics, and stumps us to be as aston- is Truth is a Universe. Have you a chart of it? 1066 Great is your credit for mapping a part of it Then, Mr. Bennett, with all your fa- cvity, Haven't you monkeyed with Improba bility? “ Buried Alive? spoke of it Ah, I'm glad that you nanticist, that is the joke Arthur Guiterman y are invariably a lashes and perfe LASHGROW TREATMENT wuriant lashes and. shapely wwely ard enharcag Se plane sind proofs HULDA THOMAS LL West 38th St Treatments a Sulishuents Ga comicbookMee 5