Richard W. Gilder to George Washington Cable, 28 May 1890 Richard W. Gilder Stephanie Browner Kenneth M. Price Matt Cohen Transcription, encoding, annotation Gilmore, Samantha Matheis, Caitlin S. Weakly, Laura K. Barney, Brett Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln The New School 2022 The Charles W. Chesnutt Archive
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 Richard W. Gilder to George Washington Cable, 28 May 1890 May 28, 1890 Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University Correspondence House Behind the Cedars autograph letter signed Gilder, Richard W. New York, New York Cable, George Washington Unknown Laura K. Weaklyremoved links to unpublished prev/next letters Brett Barney instituted Matt's proofing corrections Laura K. Weaklyproofed Caitlin Matheisproofed Samantha Gilmoretranscribed, encoded, and annotated Please return to G. W. C.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT THE CENTURY MAGAZINE UNION SQUARE NEW YORK
28 May 1890. My dear Cable,

This story of Chesnutts "Rena Walden" I have read with great care. I'm extremely sorry not to find it feasible. Its subject is new, & the point of view. But somehow it seems to me amorphous—not so much in construction as in sentiment. I could talk to you about it more clearly than I can write. There is either a lack of humor in the author, or a brutality in the characters, & lack of mellowness, lack of spontaneous, imaginative life in the people, lack of outlook,—I don't know what—that makes them—as here depicted—uninteresting. I think it is the writers fault, rather than the people's. The result seems to me a crude study; not a thoroughly human one. I wish I could see more of the author's work—some briefer study. The writing in the opening pages is excellent.

Sincerely, R.W. Gilder The hero & heroine are such frauds both of them that they have no interest—as here described. The black boy is better, from a literary point of view & his father.