To the Editors of The Critic:—
In The Critic for January 14th, quotation is made from a recent article in the London Spectator, the writer of which has apparently proved, to his own satisfaction at least, “the marked inferiority” of women as writers. The Spectator says:—”Speaking tentatively and with no pretence to assurance (for the problem is difficult and obscure), we are disposed to think that the faculties in which women, otherwise intellectual and cultivated, are notably deficient, are imagination and construction.”
It may be of interest to the readers of The Critic to have placed before them, for consideration in connection with the above rather sweeping conclusion, the following extract from a letter written to myself in 1883 by Wilkie Collins. The author of “The Woman in White” had certainly secured for himself full recognition on the part of the reading public on both sides of the Atlantic as a writer by no means deficient in constructive power or in imagination, and it is, I suppose, fair to assume that he possessed also the capacity for judging such qualities in other writers. Mr. Collins writes:—
“Have I read ‘The Leavenworth Case’? I have read it through at one sitting. Need I say after that what I think of it? Yes—because I have a word to add about Miss Green’s future work. Her powers of invention are so remarkable—she has so much imagination and so much belief (a most important qualification for our art) in what she writes, that I have nothing to report of myself, so far, but most sincere admiration.” (Here followed certain counsels and suggestions for the author’s future work.)
“Now, I get out of the pulpit and take my leave in the character of a reader. Dozens of times in reading the story I have stopped to admire the fertility of invention, the delicate treatment of incidents—and the fine perception of the influence of events on the personages of the story. * * * The treatment, in Book Ill., of Mrs. Belden’s character shows such difficulties mastered and such truth and subtlety—it produced, in one word, such a strong impression upon me, that I looked at the chapter for the second time, and the result was renewed appreciation. There, I found my reason for believing that Miss Green has capacities for presenting ‘character’ which she has not yet sufficiently cultivated. In the meantime, she has my hearty congratulations on what she has already accomplished, and my earnest good wishes for the future. Very truly yours, WILKIE COLLINS.”
Mr. Collins evidently took the ground that literary and artistic productions should be judged for themselves, and without any distinction as to the “age, sex or previous condition of servitude” of the producers. As a publisher, I am myself inclined to contend that this is the only legitimate method of securing an impartial and adequate judgment concerning such productions. NEW YORK, 18 Jan., 1893 — GEO. HAVEN PUTNAM.