The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-02-10
Fiction: should 1t be Read /!
We arr such stuff
AS dreams are made of, and ot.r little life
Is rounded by sleep, -1,mpcSt.

Uc lHot iHCIStls1hS iliuiei Pii0i,y va
of fiction - the power they already pos
sess, both in the literary and religious
world = the earnest opposition made to
them by large class of honest men,
give to the question which heads this ar
ticle a grave importance. We do not wish
to make use of our position to inculcate
any peculiar religious dogmas we may
choose to accept; but the discussion of
this question of fiction lies fairly within
the range of the secular press.
For ourself, we believe the Poem--the
Story-the Novel, to be among the great
est and most useful powers in literature.
The opposition the Novel meets with from
many strong-minded, conscientious men,
is accounted for by the fact that these
men are only half developed. Imagina-
tion-the regal power-is uncultured and
dwarfcd, and they receive as truth only
that which can be reduced to logical prop
ositions. Instruction, inspiration, must
come through the avenue of the intellect,
while the broader and reader way of ac-
cess through the feelings, is kept carefully
closed We listen to such mans opin-
ion of novel reading, as we would listen
to an ignorant mans discourse on science,
or a fools exposition of an abstruse point
in law. Clearly, he is not entitled to give
an opinion, being ignorant of the matter
on which he discourses. We once listen
ed for some length of time to the Sabbath
discourses of an aged preacher-a white
haired, holy, and venerable man. To
novels he had great aversion. He de-
claimed against them with peculiar unc-
ton. In his zeal of denunc:ation his be-
neyolent face grew austere in expression,
and as he warned the young to beware of
the seductive influences of fictitious litera-
ture, he would wreak his displeasure on
the very name, and pronounce the word,
novels, with strength of accent on the
last syllable which would make it certain
to remind one of an uncomfortable local.
ty, which we all hope to shun. We liked
the good clergyman all the better for these
philippics. His only fault was ignorance.
lie took the lowest aad weakest class of
novels-th details of the perilous adyen-
lures, astonishing mental sufferings, and
prodigious beroism, of some handsome,
dissipated, rakish young sprout of false
gentility, in his efforts to win the love of
some vain, fascinating, weak Drained fe-
male foo, he took this style of novel,
we say, as representative of the whole
class. Here was his error. Had he been
familiar with the works of Dickens, Kings
ley, Charlotte Bronte, Cooper, Haw-
thorne, Mrs. Stowe, and others of this
class, he would not have spoken of the
Novel as he did. He would have recog-
nized these spirits as earnest and efficient
co-workers in the great enterprise of ele-
waiting and ehnobling Humanity.
There are are three separate classes of
Novels or fictitious Stories. First, the
newspaper stories, generally termed Glove
stories;' second, those longer and more
ambitious stories, which aim to give us
copy of life and manners, to translate into
language the thoughts, emotions, and
passions of mankind; and thirdly, those
creations of the Imagination in which the
hottest and purest aspirations of noble
and gifted souls find utterance. These are
not picturings of what we are, but of
what we desire to be, perhaps prophetic
forcshadowing of what we shall be here
after.
Sedate, good mothers, and careful old
gentlemen, quite generally condemn the
love stories so frequent in newspapers
and magazines, as frivolous and worthless.
We dissent from them. Love and Death
are the two greatest and most obvious
facts which exist in this world. They ale
the common portion of all humanity.-
Shall we ignore the fact of love? We
canne t do it. Love is king. 1t is strong
er than all other powers IN the world, and
the world pays it homage. Burns sang
of love, and entranced nations listen and
applaud the singer and the song. The
The appetite of the body demands differ
ent kinds of food at different stages of
life, and so does that of the mind. The
child listens with pleasure to Mother
Goose's Melodies and the marvellous tales
of Dame Wonderful. The youth and
maiden pore over the romances in the
newspapers and magazines, aud the ma
turer mind, without losing its relish for
romance, still learns and loves to grapple
with the great problems of Life.
The noble soul by age grows lustier
Its appetite and its digestion mend"
The idea that the reading of works of
fiction weakens the mind and units one
for the discharge of the ordinary duties
of life, is merest Authorization. The tes-
timony and practice of the best intellects
refutes the assertion. Because some