The entire responsibility for the estimates and opinions offered (where they are not directly attributed) is mine. I have tried to tell the truth, use my imagination legitimately, and observe good taste without the sacrifice of valuable insights into character and work. For example, in addition to biographical facts, in themselves often unenlightening, I have usually tried, as in the account of Mr. Galsworthy, to disclose the personality so carefully (albeit high-mindedly) withheld from the writer’s books. Again, as in the chapter on Joseph Conrad, aside from the effort at novelty and freshness of interest by the device of adopting Conrad’s own Marlow as the narrator, I have made bold to set down some facts never before printed and not in the least generally known, because they seem to me a side of the picture that it is wrong to obscure. The wealth of material spread before me has made the task of selection exceedingly difficult, and I cannot pretend to be satisfied with what I have chosen in the light of my knowledge of what has had to be left out. I owe a grateful acknowledgment to the publishers and to individuals in the several publishing houses for their generous assistance. _1 August, 1923._ GRANT OVERTON. [Illustration] _Contents_ _1_ MR. GALSWORTHY’S SECRET LOYALTIES, _13_ _2_ THE MAGIC CARPET, _34_ _3_ A BREATHLESS CHAPTER, _51_ _4_ IN THE KINGDOM OF CONRAD, _64_ _5_ THE DOCUMENTS IN THE CASE OF ARTHUR TRAIN, _91_ _6_ THE LADY OF A TRADITION, MISS SACKVILLE-WEST, _102_ _7_ HAROLD BELL WRIGHT, _119_ _8_ “AH, DID YOU ONCE SEE SHELLEY PLAIN?” _139_ _9_ ALICE IN AUTHORLAND AND PENROD’S FIVE-FOOT SHELF, _157_ _10_ THE MAN CALLED RALPH CONNOR, _178_ _11_ HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE, _189_ _12_ TOTALLING MR. TARKINGTON, _217_ _13_ A PARODY OUTLINE OF STEWART, _239_ _14_ MISS ZONA GALE, _248_ _15_ FOR THE LITERARY INVESTOR, _255_ _16_ NATURALIST VS. NOVELIST: GENE STRATTON-PORTER, _270_ _17_ POETRY AND PLAYS, _293_ _18_ LOST PATTERNS, _313_ _19_ JOSEPH C. LINCOLN DISCOVERS CAPE COD, _321_ _20_ EDITH WHARTON AND THE TIME SPIRIT, _345_ _21_ THE UNCLASSIFIED CASE OF CHRISTOPHER MORLEY, _363_ _22_ THE PROPHECIES OF LOTHROP STODDARD, _380_ INDEX, _387_ [Illustration] _Portraits_