Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 March 1915 — WAR’S EFFECT ON ALL ARTS [ARTICLE]

WAR’S EFFECT ON ALL ARTS

1 ' Inevltauly Bad in the Extreme, is the Opinion Expressed by William Dean Howells. “War stops literature,” says William Dean Howells, “ft is an upheaval of •civilization, a return to barbarism; it means death to all arts. Even the preparation for war stops literature.” Mr. Howell’s opinion is probably shared by a good many observers, and by a good many more—Brander Mat-

thews among them—it is entirely* rejected. The fact t remains, however, that we have had five months of the most appalling war that the world has ever known, and in that length of time , l>o literary product that will survive beyond its little hour. This may prove Mr. Howells right, or it may prove merely that we have uot yet had enough war to produce the stimulating effect that others ascribe to it If the latter is the case, literature must be In the doldrums, indeed, and it would prove interesting to know how much

war thoße who believe in war’s revivifying tonic think ,1s required to produce a masterpiece in letters, or painting or drama or music. Someone, surely/ought to be able to figure it out—to tell us, in round numbers, how much blood must be spilled, how many battles must be fought, how many, lands made desolate, how many thousands of men maimed and killed and how many hearts bowed low with grief before art is purged clean and genius is stimulated to. respond to war’s inspiration.—lndianapolis Nsw|