The Writer and his Daily Bread
By Roy Temple House
Editor of the international book review quarterly »Books Abroad«
In my editorial capacity I receive a great deal of European mail. Every few days of late have I been learning by letter or from
the foreign press that another Continental publishing company has gone to the wall.
An old German publishing house writes: »Have you
any suggestions as to how the American sale of
our books can be stimulated? Germans have almost
completely stopped buying books.« The head of some of the solidest German firms remarks in a burst of confidence that for the
first time since his childhood he could not afford a summer vacation this season.
A
mild deprivation compared to the case of the French novelist who died
of starvation a year or two ago and that of the once-famous Czech dramatist who is subsisting on charity. Books are a luxury, and everybody in central
Europe who has lived from the making or the
selling of books is living narrowly at present.
In the course of considerable correspondence on the subject I have received from Europe some very interesting comment, signed now and then with a name which carries weight. […]
[…]
The wisest and kindest of living Austrian
Writers has concrete suggestions. Dr. Arthur
Schnitzler writes:
. . . . »The shortest and simplest means of helping the situation
is by direct aid to the needy writers. More important – and in a higher sense –
would, of course, be a reform of the
copyright law, or at least a careful
observance of the existing law, which, as you know, is not now the case. It is
unfortunately true that spiritual property has never been put on the same plane
before the law as material property, and so it is constantly happening that direct
infractions of existing law are not adequately punished or not at all, so that the
most disgraceful offenders against the regulations concerning spiritual property are
allowed to go free, not merely unpunished, but even as highly respected citizens.
But
these things cannot be changed overnight, and even if they were changed there will
always remain a certain number of writers who would have difficulty in earning a
living, if they were paid respectably. . . .
»Cordially, Arthur Schnitzler.«
[…]
Readers who may be inclined to offer financial assistance to German or Austrian
writers who are in financial straits may make contacts with the Schutzverband Deutscher Schriftsteller, Berlin W. 50, Nürnbergerstrasse 8, or with the Schutzverband Deutscher Schriftsteller in Oesterreich, Wien, Annagasse 5.
