Indianapolis Times, Volume 40, Number 117, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 October 1928 — Page 12

PAGE 12

DID ROBERTS PAINT : THE REAL DICKENS? . The Literary World Seems to Be Doing a Lot of Talking Concerning New Novel About a Great Writer. BY WALTER D. HICKMAN TTTHEN a novelist shows up the unpopular side of a famous man, the W writer has the right to expect a lot of fireworks as well as good “box office.” Charles Dickens was one novelist whose life is not rammed down the throats of boys and girls while in school. Dickens was always found great reading when I was in school and I welcomed as pleasant and interesting “higher educational reading’’ such books as “Oliver Twist,” “Dombet and Son,” “Christmas Carols,” “David Copperfield,” and many others.

The truth is that I have known little about the real Dickens. I was satisfied with the wonderful genius of the man as found in his many books. That was enough for me and I never went about trying to find the skeleton in the family closet. Now comes C. E. Bechhofer Roberts in his new novel, “This Side of Idolatry,” and tells the world that this novel is “based on the life of Charles Dickens.” I do not give a rip for hero worship and I wasn’t one bit shocked when certain honest writers began telling the honest human truths of great men. If I did not believe that Abraham Lincoln was a human being and that George Washington, Benjomin Franklin and all the others of the great were not human beings, then I wouldn’t be a bit interested in their lives. I for one do not fall for that divine protection idea that so many people and writers give to great men after they are dead and gone. Personally, I do not give a rip if relatives or the few today who knew him agree with what Roberts has to say about Dickens. The author has done his work so carefully and with such a background of possible facts that I believe that the Dickens he pictures in “This Side Idolatry” could have been the real Dickens. And I will go this far to say that if Roberts has pictured Dickens entirely true to life, I would not be ashamed to call him friend and to still sing praises of the man’s greatness as an author. I find that Roberts anticipated such criticism in showing up the alleged unpleasant side of Dickens as well as his great ltterary talents when Dicken's preface to “Nicholas Nickelby” is produced as a preface to “This Side Idolatry.” The Nickleby preface is produced as follows: ‘lf Nicholas be not always found to be blameless or agreeable, he not always intended to appear so. He is a young man of an impetuous temper and of little or no experience; and I saw no reason why such a hero should be lifted out of nature.” And I see no reason in the world why Dickens himself “should be lifted out of nature.” I feel that Roberts has made an exhaustive research of Dickens’ life before he turned over his manuscript for publication by the Bobbs-Merrill Compary of Indianapolis. 7.n my personal experience I have njver found a great man to be a God. He is great because he is hu-

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man or in spite of his humanness. I believe that genius often takes a nutty and strange course in the individual blessed with it. And I honestly believe that a man who wrote and thought as much as Charles Dickens would be different from the mine run individual. It doesn’t lessen my respect for the artistry of Dickens to read in “This Side Idolatry.” That Dickens was a supreme egotist. That he surely loved himself and in loving himself he provided well for his family. That his conceit and his treatment of his wife resulted in her leaving him some years before his death. That he had mental love affairs with young girls and that in one instance with an actress that people did talk. That he had an effeminate streak in him. That he loved to personally associate with morbid and strange people. That when he felt the urge that he carted his wife and family over to Italy and other places just because his mood and the desire to get into another story urged him on. These so called alleged damaging but human attributes in no way prevents me from marveling at the way Roberts tells us how and why Dickens created his famous characters. If you have hero worshiped Dickens into your own Hall of Fame then you will get angry and all hot under the collar as you read “This Side Idolatry.” But if you appreciate that genius often springs from a combination of mixed thoughts, emotions and opinions then you will not be shocked but highly interested in this book. Yes I am glad that Roberts has given the world his conception of the “true” Dickens and I welcome the courage which prompted BobbsMeprill to publish it. They are doing lot of talk about this book and so you better start reading it. FAVORITE TO OPEN AT THE CIRCLE In all literature there are possibly no two figures who have stirred the imagination more than Uncle Tom and Eliza, two of the central characters in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which comes to the Circle Saturday in its film version. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous story is reputed to have sold 3,000,000 copies in the United States, 1,500,000 in England, and is said to have been translated into twen-ty-three languages. The film version of the picture showing next week at the Circle is said to have been made at a cost exceeding $2,000,000 over a period of

Best Sellers The following is a list of the six best sellers in fiction and non-fiction in Brentano’s New York stores: FICTION “The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg,” L. Bromfleld (Stokes). “All Kneeling,’’ Ann Parrish (Harper). “The Children,” Edith Wharton (Appleton). “Old Pybus,” W. Deeping (Knopf). “Extraordinary Women,” C. MacKenzie (Macy Masius). “Destiny Bay," Donn Byrne (Little Brown). NONFICTION "Abraham Lincoln,” A. J. Beveridge (Houghton Mifflin). “Memories and Reflections,” Lord Oxford (Little Brown). “Goethe." Emil Ludwig (Putnam). “The Story of Oriental Philosophy,” L. A. Beck (Cosmopolitan). "Francois Villon,” B. D. W. Lewis Coward McCann). “John Brown's Body.” S. V. Benet (Doubleday Doran).

two years. The entire picture has a sound accompaniment. Other theaters today offer: Charlie Davis at the Indiana; “Sunrise” at the Circle; “The Terror” at the Apollo; Girl Revue at the Colonial; “Our Dancing Daughters” at the Palace; Francis and Day at the Lyric, and, “French Models” at the Mutual.

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THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

SENTENCED FOR STEALING HOSE Four Men, Three Women Get Jail Terms, Fines. Too many silk stockings, stolen ones Thursday brought fines and jail and State farm sentences to four men and three women. Fined and sentenced by Municipal Judge Paul C. Wetter in connection with the theft of hosiery from the Real Silk hosiery mills were: Mrs. Yelton, 36, of 814 N. East St.; Mrs. Charlotte Thayer, 36, of 725 N. Delaware St., Apt. 2, and Mrs. Gertrude Davis, 34, of 231 E. St. Joseph St. Mrs. Yelton, fined $1 and sentenced to four days in jail, was accused of buying seven pairs of stolen hose. Mrs. Thayer, given the same sentence and fine, was charged with having twenty pair. Mrs. Davis, accused of having bought fifty pair, was fined $1 and sentenced to fortyeight hours in jail. James Thayer, 36, husband of

Mrs. Thayer, was fined $1 and sentenced to twenty-four hours in jail. Three Real Silk employes sentenced on petit parceny charges for theft of the stockings were: Ben Shelland, 50, 728 Pari Ave., $250 fine and 180 days at State farm, accused with stealing 400 pairs, value $800; Cleo Ball, 24, of 1815 New St., $25 and 90 days at farm, accused of stealing 200 pairs, value $400; William Ball, 34, of 811 Broadway, $25 and 90 days State

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farm, accused of stealing 200 pairs, value S4OO. CHALLENGE TO BORAH Ex-Senator of Illinois Seeks Series of Campaign Debates. Bn United Press ST. LOUIS, Mo., Oct. 5.—-J. Hamilton Lewis, former United States Senator from Illinois has issued a challenge to United States Senator

William E. Borah of Idaho for a series of joint political debates on the issues of the presidential campaign. The challenge was made public here through the Democratic regional headquarters. Borah’s reply has not been received.

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OCT. 5, 1928

Elects Ft. Wayne Man By United Press LAPORTE, Ind., Oct. s.—The Rev. William Moll, Ft. Wayne, Thursday was elected president of the Northern Indiana and Ohio Conference of the Missouri Synod in session here