Everyone's a Critic

Prince of India carving on Study Building

Lew Wallace is probably most famous as the author of Ben-Hur, which was the best-selling novel of the 20th century, but he wrote other novels, and they weren't all as well-received as Ben-Hur. The following is a letter written to him by a doctor from Colorado:

Dear Sir,

Perhaps advice may not be acceptable to you, and in case that it is not, allow me to make a request of you. It is this: in charity to English-speaking humanity, please do not attempt to write any more books of fiction.
Your first* book of the kind, or at least the first one of them that I got hold of, is a fine work. It is a beautiful story and beautifully told. The descriptions in it are superbly realistic, and an intense interest enthralls the reader from the beginning of the book to the end. I am speaking of Ben Hur, and I can not recall any book that gave me more pleasure in reading than Ben Hur.
With the next one I read, The Fair God (1873). I was awfully disappointed. It is hardly worth reading, and is inconceivably inferior to Ben Hur in every way.
But by far the worst of the lot is The Prince of India (1893). I have just managed to read the first volume, and that is all I could stand. It is apparently a rehash of the old yarn of the Wandering Jew, and certainly the most insipid and uninteresting lot of trash that I have had the misfortune to get hold of in years.
Had you been satisfied to stop writing after finishing Ben Hur your reputation as a writer of English literature would have been most admirable; but the effect of The Fair God and more particularly The Prince of India will be to leave the reputation of the author of Ben Hur decidedly clouded. So I repeat my request.
Please do not attempt to write any more works of fiction for you are evidently in your later years not equal to the attempt. In all kindness and thanking you for the pleasure your first book gave me, I am, most respectfully,
J.D. Brandon, M.D.

Ouch!

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*Note: The Fair God was actually Lew's first novel, and Ben-Hur the second, though it was, of course, Ben-Hur that received widespread attention and secured Lew's fortune and reputation as a novelist.

People Lew Knew: Charles Major, Indiana Author

Recently I had two literary guests visiting the Study who asked about Charles Major of Shelbyville, Indiana. I didn’t recognize the name at first, though I should have--Major is remembered now for having written The Bears of Blue River, but he was a celebrated author in his day. His book When Knighthood Was in Flower, published in 1899, was a bestseller and was adapted on Broadway and in film.

Lew made a habit of encouraging young and struggling authors in Indiana. He knew most of those who are today remembered as Indiana’s greats--James Whitcomb Riley, Booth Tarkington, George Ade, and many others. But he also had an influence on Charles Major.

They met shortly before Major’s first novel was published, and after the meeting, Major wrote a letter to Lew. He confessed that, many years earlier, he had traveled to Crawfordsville in the hopes of meeting the famous author...but then lost his nerve and went back home! It made their meeting in 1898 even more important to Major.

I wish I had known all this before my visitors asked. Hopefully by sharing it on the blog, I’ll be able to reach those who asked as well as all our regular readers.

For more in-depth information about Charles Major, see our earlier post about him here.

New in the gift shop--My Indiana: 101 More Places to See

Past visitors to the Study gift shop will recognize My Indiana: 101 Places to See by Earl L. Conn. New to the gift shop this week is Mr. Conn’s sequel, My Indiana: 101 More Places to See. Both books sell for $19.95.

The books are divided into regions of the state: North, East, Central, West, South Central, and South. Each region features notable locations in several cities. Crawfordsville, listed in the West region, is mentioned because of the Rotary Jail Museum.

Many nearby locations in the West region are just a short drive from the Study. Come in to see us, pick up a copy of the book while you’re here, and plan some short excursions from the book!