Produced by C. P. Boyko
A Practical Novelist
by
John Davidson
Author of 'Perfervid,' 'Scaramouch in Naxos,' etc.
London
Ward & Downey
York Street, Covent Garden
1891
I. Bagging a Hero
II. The Suitor and the Sued
III. On the Road
IV. A 'Heavy' Father
V. The Art of Proposing
VI. Lee Enjoys Himself
VII. The Unexpected
VIII. Briscoe Sees Things in a New Light
IX. Dempster Apologizes
X. The Night Breeze
XI. Conclusion
'WELL, but the novel is played out, Carry. It has run to seed.Anybody can get the seed; anybody can sow it. If it goes on atthis rate, novel-writers will soon be in a majority, andnovel-reading will become a lucrative employment.'
'What are you going to do, then, Maxwell? Here's Peter out ofwork, and my stitching can't support three.'
The three in question were Maxwell Lee, his wife Caroline, and herbrother, Peter Briscoe. Lee was an unsuccessful literary man; hisbrother-in-law, Briscoe, an unsuccessful business-man. Caroline,on the other hand, was entirely successful in an arduous endeavourto be a man, hoping and working for all three.
We have nothing whatever to do with the past of these people. Westart with the conversation introduced in the first sentence.Caroline had urged on Lee the advisability of accepting an offerfrom the editor of a country weekly. But Lee, who had composeddramas and philosophical romances which no publisher, nor editorcould be got to read, refused scornfully the task of writing an'ordinary, vulgar, sentimental and sensational story of the kindrequired.'
'What am I going to do?' he said. 'I'll tell you: I am going tocreate a novel. Practical joking is the new novel in its infancy.The end of every thought is an action; and the centuries ofwritten fiction must culminate in an age of acted fiction. Westand upon the threshold of that age, and I am destined to openthe door.'
Caroline sighed, and Briscoe shot out his underlip: evidence thatthey were accustomed to this sort of thing.
Lee continued: 'You shall collaborate with me in the production ofthis novel. Think of it! Novel-writing is effete; novel-creationis about to begin. We shall cause a novel to take place in theworld. We shall construct a plot; we shall select a hero; we shallenter into his life, and produce the series of events beforedetermined on. Consider for a minute. We can do nothing else now.The last development, the naturalist school, is a mere copying, abare photographing of life—at least, that is what it professes tobe. This is not art. There can never be an art of novel-writing.But there can be—there shall be, you will aid me to begin the artof novel-creation.'
'Do you propose to make a living by it?' inquired Briscoe.
'Certainly.'
Briscoe rose, and without comment left the house. Caroline lookedat her husband with a glance of mingled pity and amusement.
'Why are you so fantastic?' she asked softly.
'You laugh at my idea now, because you do not see it as I see it.
Wait till it is completely developed before you condemn it.'
Caroline made no reply; but went