. Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern. tterly his powers desert him the moment he leaves his nativeheath: like Antaeus, he is a giant on his mother earth and a pigmyoff it. His first published book was ^Better Dead* (1887); it worksout a cynical idea which would be amusing in five pages, but isdiluted into tediousness by being spread over fifty. But in 1889 camea second masterpiece, <A Window in Thrums,* a continuation of theAuld Licht series from an inside instead of an outside standpoint,—not superior to the first, but their full equals in a deliciousness ofwhich on
. Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern. tterly his powers desert him the moment he leaves his nativeheath: like Antaeus, he is a giant on his mother earth and a pigmyoff it. His first published book was ^Better Dead* (1887); it worksout a cynical idea which would be amusing in five pages, but isdiluted into tediousness by being spread over fifty. But in 1889 camea second masterpiece, <A Window in Thrums,* a continuation of theAuld Licht series from an inside instead of an outside standpoint,—not superior to the first, but their full equals in a deliciousness ofwhich one cannot say how much is matter and how much style. <MyLady Nicotine* appeared in 1890; it was very popular, and has someamusing sketches, but no enduring quality. < An Edinburgh Eleven (1890) is a set of sketches of his classmates and professors. In 1891 the third of his Scotch works appeared,—< The Little Min-ister,*— which raised him from the rank of an admirable sketchwriter to that of an admirable novelist, despite its fantastic plot and. James M. Barrie jrn2 JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE ?detail. Since then he has written three plays,—^Walker, London,*? and < The Professors Love Story,* the latter very suc-•cessful and adding to his reputation; but no literature except hisnovel < Sentimental Tommy,* just closed in Scribners novel is not only a great advance on < The Little Minister * insymmetry of construction, reality of matter, tragic power, and in-sight, but its tone is very different. Though as rich in humor, thehumor is largely of a grim, bitter, and sardonic sort. The light,gay, buoyant fun of ^ The Little Minister,* which makes it a per-petual enjoyment, has mostly vanished; in its stead we feel that thewriters sensitive nature is wrung by the swarming catastrophes hecannot avert, the endless wrecks on the ocean of life he cannot suc-cor, and hardly less by those spiritual tragedies and ironies so muchworse, on a true scale of valua
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