The Regents Critics: A Review

98 THE REGENTS CRITICS: A REVIEW The Author's Craft and Other Critical Writings of Arnold Bennett, ed by Samuel Hynes. Lincoln, Neb: University of Nebraska P, 1968. Bison Books: cloth - $5.95; paper - $2.25. Literary Criticism of Oscar Wilde, ed by Stanley Weintraub. Lincoln, Neb: University of Nebraska P, 1969. Bison Books: cloth - $5.95; paper - $2.25. The University of Nebraska Press has produced a fine group of books of critical writings by Joseph Conrad, F. M. Ford, G. H. Lewes, Alexander Pope, E. A. Poe, the Russian Formalists, Wordsworth, Shelley , Dryden, Sidney and, now, Bennett and Wilde. These selected compilations often make available materials difficult to come by in single-volume and relatively Inexpensive form. To the fine gallery of collections. Professors Hynes and Weintraub have added two that are especially useful for those Interested in "transitional" literature . Bennett's critical writings have long been ignored and thus have not been readily available In a selected collection such as that brought together by Hynes. Since Bennett was at one time a very powerful reviewer and an Influential adviser to agents and publishers , it is especially gratifying to have this collection available . In the vigorous debates at about the turn of the century on what was commonly referred to as "the new realism," Bennett played an Important role - his critical writings, his notebooks, his letters , and the testimony of many writers of his time make this clear. Although, like fteorge Moore, H. G. Wells, and Somerset Maugham, he was often his own worst enemy In presenting a non-artlstlc image of himself to the eyes of the serious literary critics, Bennett was not solely "a literary businessman with 'strong mercantile Instincts.' He was also a serious student of literature and an Intelligent appreclator of the other arts. Hynes· excellent collection does much to balance the half-truths that are still current about Bennett. One might wish that Hynes had been able to Include some passages from the letters, which James Hepburn has been editing. Given limited space, however, Hynes could not have done better than he has in assembling a large number of representative and revealing essays. Welntraub's collection of Wilde's essays gives us convenient access to much more of Wilde's critical writings than any other collection we now have. There are enough riches In Wilde as writer of prose fiction, plays, criticism and aesthetics, and poetry to warrant separate collections of his work In the several genres. Attempts to represent a little of his work In each genre In a single collection have usually been unsatisfactory. This collection Is also timely. Now that most of the titillating anecdotes and facts about Wilde's life have been rehearsed ad nauseum, his star as a literary man and perhaps as an aesthetTclan seems to be rising. Eplfanlo San Juan's and Ellmann's recent work on Wilde suggest that more such Important studies can be expected to follow. It is long overdue. Northern Illinois University H. E. Gerber ...