Successful Fiction

of 1905.

This is now the sixth year in which we have devoted several paragraphs of our January issue to a survey of the popular fiction of the previous twelve months. In a general way what we said in January, 1901, of the books of 1900, and what we have been obliged to repeat with some slight verbal changes ever since will do. perfectly well for 1905. In short, the year has produced nothing astonishing. There have been a great many admirable stories; a number of books have been read to an extent highly pleasing to publishers and authors; but very few, if any, of the novels of the year have any chance of more than ephemeral popularity. On the other hand, by contrasting the popular books of five or six years ago with the popular books of the last twelve months, we can reach some very pleasing

conclusions. It seems no longer possible for a publishing house to push any book to a sale of great magnitude through sheer exploitation. Then, too, there is more evidence of the individual note. A writer must tell his or her own story, for the novel made to recipe, whether it be of the American Revolution School, or the Rural or B'gosh School, or the After the Method of Dumas School, is no longer in demand. Although, with a few exceptions, it has not found a place among the best sellers, the novel of the last year or two has been the Business Novel. In a broad sense, the business novel is as old as Cæsar Biroteau; in its narrower interpretation it belongs to the last twenty-four or thirty months of American fiction.

IN THE BOOKMAN for May, 1903, there appeared tabulations of the successful authors and best selling books from 1895 to 1902 (inclusive) as compiled from the records of THE BOOKMAN from the time of its establishment. These tabulations showed that the authors who had enjoyed the most popular favour in the years mentioned were, in order, Winston Churchill, Gilbert Parker, Ian Maclaren, James Lane Allen, Sienkiewicz and Charles Major, A glance through the lists of the last year brings us to the conclusion that either the vogue or the literary activity of most of these men is past; for in not one month has one of these names appeared opposite one of the six best selling books. Knowing