2 6 AMERICAN MEN OF LETTERS [ 2 6 



The most significant and at the same time the most explicit 

 are; the number of editions and reprints; the number and 

 success of translations, allowance being made as far as pos- 

 sible for the personality of the translator ; finally, the number 

 of imitations, adaptations, plagiarisms, etc. These are the 

 most certain tests of the success which a work may have had. 1 



Odin also mentions other less important supplementary 

 tests. For example : 



Works which perhaps do not appear important in themselves, 

 but which have caused keen argument, or which have become 

 known abroad, cannot be entirely insignificant. Sometimes 

 the very fecundity of certain authors is a proof of their 

 success. This is the case, for instance, when a poor author 

 writes to gain his livelihood. 2 



In addition there are many very subsidiary criteria which 

 Odin used only rarely, such as the frequency of mention or 

 quotation, or the eulogies of well-known critics, supported 

 by reasons. 



Even when such objective criteria are used, it is obvious 

 that there must often be resort to personal judgment. An 

 example, taken from Odin, of circumstances necessitating 

 personal judgment will sufficiently illustrate this point. 



Reprints, for instance, are far from always signifying the 

 same thing. They are quite frequently due to fortuitous 

 causes, absolutely independent of the merit of the work and 

 of the interest which it arouses in the public. Now it is a 

 descendant of the author who re-edits his works through filial 

 reverence, . . . now we see some work, disdained by con- 

 temporaries and unknown to posterity, suddenly acquire im- 

 portance in the eyes of certain specialists, for a reason abso- 

 lutely foreign to its literary value. The same is true of the 



1 A. Odin, op. cit., p. 364. 2 Ibid -> P- 365- 



