Inquiries and Opinions

Brander Matthews surveys the literary and dramatic life of the early twentieth century with a critic's eye and a storyteller's sense of history. Opening with "Literature in the New Century," he asks how art will answer the pressures of modern life, tracing the lasting influence of the nineteenth century's scientific spirit, democracy, nationalism, and cosmopolitanism. Across the collection, he considers the relation of invention to imagination, the changing fate of fame, and the ways literature absorbs new knowledge without losing emotional force. These essays move from broad reflections on literary culture to vivid assessments of major figures and theatrical craft. Matthews weighs the lasting power of true masters against the fleeting triumphs of fashionable reputations, celebrates Maupassant's disciplined apprenticeship and technical rigor, and examines Ibsen as a stern, intellectually honest innovator whose greatness is inseparable from his severity. With studies of Poe, Mark Twain, Stevenson, stage management, and the modern novel, the volume offers a rich meditation on technique, genius, and the evolving art of storytelling. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.