Garland in His Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of His Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates

[Journal Comments on Garland in 1931]

[123] X [Journal Comments on Garland in 1931] Eldon Hill In 1931 Hill arranged to meet Garland in New York and to travel with him to his country home Grey Ledge, which Garland had purchased in May 1925 in the club community of Onteora, New York. Named for the ledge upon which it was situated above Camp Neshonoc, near the top of Onteora Mountain, the two-story house was far more comfortable than Garland’s cramped New York apartment. New York City, 8 July 1931 Tonight I made a call on Hamlin Garland at his home, 507 Cathedral Parkway . He was genial, entertaining, and inspiring. We talked of a great many things—sensational journalism, decadent literature, the over-emphasis of the Jewish (New York) note in the American letters—and of a great many persons—Sinclair Lewis, William Faulkner, Vere Collins, Margaret Wilkinson , Roosevelt, John Burroughs, Sherwood Anderson, Mencken, Heywood Broun, Harry Hansen, Colonel E. M. House, and of course his (Mr. Garland’s) beloved William Dean Howells. Some we berated, some we damned with faint praise, some we lauded to the heavens. He led me out on several points, and I could see in the twinkle of his eye a degree of toleration if not always approval of my opinions. How immature they must have seemed to him! Mr. Garland believes that the salvation of American letters rests in the development of a new school of critics who will counteract the present criticism which approves the pornographic and otherwise indecent books of today. Novels are being published today which outrage the canons of common decency and, worse still, challenge the dignity of human personality. Have we not progressed beyond the morals of the barnyard? To read a book like William Faulkner’s Sanctuary one would not think so. What is the critic to do with a book which he cannot discuss with his sister or his daughter? At the risk of being called prudish and senile and garland in his own time [124] puritanical (what would the cynics do without that word?) let the critic come out flatfooted and aggressively against such filth. Let him call it to question as a misrepresentation of life seen from a broad point of view. Let him point out that the authors fail “to see life steadily and to see it whole.” Let him stand for decency. In a time like ours it requires courage. But it is worth the price. We talked of many other things. He told me the intimate story of Margaret Wilkinson’s death (suicide) (as I had noticed mention of her in his diaries which he was kind enough to show me). It seems she was a victim of melancholia, a psychopathic case. He told me that he & Mrs. Garland were close friends of the Wilkinsons.1 Mencken has no perspective. Berates Howells, ignoring that author’s great contribution to American letters of his day. Mr. Garland volunteered to give me a note of introduction to Editor Collins of The Bookman.2 Write of Criticism— Problem of perspective. Problem of moralizing. The tendency of some critics to glorify the indecent is a weakness akin to that of immature young men who smoke cigarettes because they think it smart. Cite the tendency to sit in judgment, scorning this & praising that as one having authority sent down from heaven. Cite review of Living Philosophies in which the reviewer censures a statement of Einstein’s regarding the fascination of the mysteries.3 Though it could hardly be called criticism. One is almost prone to say to the reader as he approaches a book “Let counsel of thine own heart stand, for it is wont to give the better tidings than the seven watchmen (critics) who sit above in a high tower.”4 Criticism may be prophetic. Criticism has responsibility. New York, 9 July 1931 I believe that all great writing is divinely inspired. I know that some thinkers (Hamlin Garland, Prof. [John Livingston] Lowes, Prof. [Frederick Clarke] Prescott) regard the subconscious as the source of skillful writ- [125] ing. But merely to label it the subconscious or the deeper mind is not to rule God out of the process; He is still the Mighty River of inspiration no matter how many psychological terms are invented in an effort to describe the flow. Can you imagine John Ruskin getting drunk? Some persons are of such a nervous temperament that they might...