Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1868-09-11
NOVELS AND NOVELREADING

NOVELS AND NOVELREADING,
The Westminster Review for July
says: {" The manufacture of novels
goes on with increasing ACTIVITY
for tho last two months novclists
nave been ut work full blast We
nave III consequence some thirty yol.
umcs before us Thirty now novels
i'll two months, that is fifteen in ono
month, and nearly four in u SINGLE
week. 1t Is, to say the least. much Ia
DC regretted; it docs not speak well
ior the mental strength Of the read
ing public, that the demand for light
reading Is so great, that boolmallcr,
and bookplblislcrs find it profitable
TO serve up such an amount Of fiction:
nor does it promise well for the f,-
ture. Nourishing food is needed both
for tho body and the mind. Labor
strengthens the physical, thought the
intellectual man; but who reads -
novels iii orderto improve and STRENGTH
Nouel reading as apt tn do harm. We
do not Unfortunately condemn cv-
cry novel; we know that there arc Il
irw-vcry few though-that can be
read with benefit but the same bcnc-
fit is obtainablc in greater extent, cor
rcctncss and certainty from the works
that treat Of the truths and facts
which novels pretend to illustrate and
make familiar. Nouelreading destroys
the taste for serious reading.
Truth is stranger than fiction. Fic-
ton however pr,iesscs often to be
truth; bat the truth is generally per
vcrtcd, exaggerated or modified by
the novclists. Wc havc novels to
| teach history, morality and even rcli-
glon. We have tales Of common life
and Of high life; Of the latter tho
novcliSts generally do not know as
much as My I.ady's Chambcrmaid OF
Ny Lords Butler. We have war nov.
els and nautical stories, and briefly
we have every kind OF novels. Why
do We have them? because the public
mind is unsound, cnfccblcd and spoil
ed. Is il not far better to read tho
works treating OF these and Other
subjects written by scholars; by tho
actors themselves on lifc's stage
What works arc moro interesting
than historical, biographical, or books
of travels? I have lately read ne
more entertaining books than "Ba
lScr's Nile" "Taylor's Land of Thor,
and "Motlcy's Netherlands" Rcat
good books, and none but good books
and before very long no others vii
be tolerated.
We repeat, lest we should be misun
dcrstood, that there arc q fcw-very
few-novels, that may be read will
profit; but tho greater part-th,
novels written to order, to satisfy tn
butcher, the tailor and the landlord
the Mistress Gore and Madame Muhl
back style of novcls-is trash. IT.
read thcm-or rather to devour them
for no habitual novel reader docs real
; ly reads injnrious-often demoral
izing and frequently leads to sensual
ity and rank infidelity.
The view of life novels present i
generally false. "Life is real, life i
: earnest" but they make it q dolce ia
niente existence, long holiday. TIL
characters wc meet in than arc usual
ly overdrawn, earicatures; either pm
} agons of perfection OF monsters of:ir
iquity. Crime is either softcned dowr
, or painted with such brilliant color.
: or united with rcdeeming traits an
kind deeds to such an extent, that i
loses all its dofornity; the honest, Ia
boriNls, virtaeas and religious at
mostly made ridiculous, while th
. scoundrels, the abetrayers of innt
eence, the. eontemners Of both divin
i. and. .humah laws are the real heroes
are too apt to produce aloatl
n ng for life. as it really is, with il