Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern . urious howutterly his powers desert him the moment he leaves his nativeheath: like Anticus, he is a giant on his mother earth and a pigmyofT 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 tlieir full equals in a of
Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern . urious howutterly his powers desert him the moment he leaves his nativeheath: like Anticus, he is a giant on his mother earth and a pigmyofT 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 tlieir full equals in a ofwhich one cannot say how much is matter and liow mucli 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 The Little Min-ister.— which raised him from the rank of an admirable sketchwriter to that of an ;idmirable novelist, despite its fantastic plot and. James M. Barrie JC72 JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE detail. Since then he has written three plays,— Walker, London, and the latter very suc-cessful and adding to his repvitation; but no literature except hisnovel 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 valuation, than any material misfortune. The
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectliterature, bookyear1
