The Editor's Fence

THE EDITOR'S FENCE 1. Seventh Conference on ELT: Poetry (1880-1900), Chicago. 1963: I welcomed a group of about 35 Elters, E. S. Lauterbach introduced the subject for discussion , John A. Lester and John M. Munro, in somewhat less than five minutes each, presented the highlights of their papers. Then followed a period of lively discussion. Discussion seemed to me to focus upon two central problems: 1) the quality of the poetry as distinguished from its importance, and 2) how best to approach the poetry of the period. It was generally felt that the poetry of the period is important insofar as it provides a link between some aspects of Romantic and Victorian poetry, on the one hand, and between Victorian and modern poetry, on the other. It was also generally felt that, except for isolated poems, the poetry was not noteworthy for its high quality, unless, perhaps, we have not read this poetry as we might. Among recommendations for close studies of the poetry of this period were the following: close examination of the language and images of the poems; more thorough psychological-biographical investigations than have been attempted, with the possibility of such studies leading to the discovery of new keys to the poetry; editorial projects which would make the work of some of these writers more readily accessible; collections of previously uncollected poetry and prose; editions of unpublished letters; biographical studies; and so on. In any event, most of those participating in the discussion felt that the poetry of the period provides much opportunity for original scholarly research. 2. Eighth Conference on ELT: Kipling. New York. 1964: We have tentatively scheduled Kipling as the subject for next year's Conference. Should the Conference win Discussion Group status, the same program will still be planned. We wilt consider papers on Kipling's poetry, short stories, and novels—preferably on his creative work. We would also be happy to consider "anti-Kipling" papers, Tfiis might encourage a good debate on the quality of Kipling's creative work. Since we shall not allow readings of the entire papers in order to have time for discussion, we can consider as many as three papers. As usual, these will be published prior to the meeting. 3. Group Status: I am petitioning MLA for Discussion Group status. We have the required number of supporting letters and I have submitted the petition. Should we attain Group status, we shall insist upon making discussion possible, in fact, after our Research and Bibliography Committee had considered this problem for an hour or so, we concluded that we had worked out the means for allowing even mpre time for discussion than we now have. More about this in due time. 4. The Steady Stream: Gissinq; Ten years ago, as Joseph V/olff suggested in his review of Jacob Korg's admirable book (ELT, Vl: 4 [1963], 246-48), material necessary for an intelligent biography or, for that matter, an informed largescale critical study on Gissing was sparse. Of course, there had been earlier books and articles of varying consequence: Morley Roberts' fictionized THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY MAITLAND (1912; rvd 1923), Frank Swinnerton's GEORGE GISSING, A CRITICAL STUDY (19U), H. G. Wells' still earlier articles (1897 and 1904), and May Yates' GEORGE GISSING, AN APPRECIATION (1922). After these studies there was little work on Gissing until, as one might guess, the 1930s: Samule Vogt Gapp's GEORGE GISSING, CLASSICIST (1936), Q. D. Leavis' SCRUTINY article (1938), Ruth Capers McKay's GEORGE GISSING AND HIS CRITIC FRANK SWINNERTON (1933), and Anton Weber's GEORGE GISSING UND DIE SOZIALE FRAGE (1932). Then, again, there was relative silence on Gissing for nearly 20 years. But in the 1950s what had been a mere trickle became a modest little stream of serious scholarship. Appropriately, Jacob Korg published a series of articles: "George Gissing's Outcast Intellectuals" (1950), "Division of Purpose in George Gissing" (1955), and "The Spiritual Theme of George Gissing's BORN IN EXILE" (1958). Also, appropriately, Joseph J. Wolff, who greeted Korg's book in the preceding number of ELT, published his "Gissing's Revision of THE UNCLASSED" (1953). John D. Gordan, Chief of the Berg Collection...