Highways of Canadian LiteratureLogan, J. D. (John Daniel)
History
Highways of Canadian Literature
Logan, J. D. (John Daniel)
Canadian literature -- History and criticism
It is sufficient here to remark Howe’s strict literary ideals, even as a
journalist, and to observe not only that in his own journalistic writing
he strove after literary form and color, but also that in the writings
of his contributors he saw to it that there was a very considerable
literary flavor. His ideals were emulated by other Canadian journalists,
as for instance Etienne Parent, in Quebec, and George Brown of the
Toronto _Globe_ and Charles Lindsey, in Ontario, and by later
journalists in Canada. Yet we must here emphasize, for our own times,
the inclusiveness of the ideals which inspired Howe and which resulted
in his producing newspapers whose influence abides to this day.
By some sort of intuition, Howe knew, as Addison and Steele before him
knew, that the secrets of successful journalism are two: _Variety_ of
interests in reading matter, and _Readableness_ or the power to hold the
attention by the manner or style of what is written. Howe also had
aesthetic and moral ideals. He aimed to produce journalism that would
entertain and at the same time improve literary taste and educate the
sensibilities and moral imagination. Howe saw that the unpardonable sins
of all newspapers are the lack of humanized matter, and dullness in
style; and that, therefore, no matter how high and worthy the moral aims
of journalism may be, unless a newspaper possesses variety and
readableness, it is doomed to fail both as a newspaper that otherwise
might have endured and as a newspaper that might have been perennially
the voice and the educator of the spirit. In other words, Joseph Howe
saw that the supreme virtues of first rate journalism, the virtues which
raise journalism to the dignity of literature, are two: _Humanity_ and
_Urbanity_.
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