The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-10-20
THE LITERATURE OF THE SOUTH.
An English View.

book recently published in London, giving
''brief biographical notices OF distinguished
Americans and anecdotes Of remarkable men,
interspersed with scenes and incidents occur
ring during long life of observation, chiefly
spent in the Southwest" the London Saturday
Review gives Its opinions of the literature of
the South. We quote without comment:
The Southern States at no time contributed
very largely to the national literature Of Amer
ica. Their scattered population, their rural
habits of life, and something perhaps in the
character of the people, did not favor that IA
cile and abundant production of ephemeral
writing which is almost as characteristic Of the
North as Of the most literary countries of the
Old World. The Southern journals were COM
paratively few In number, had somewhat
limited circulation, and were published almost
exclusively in few chief centres of social
and political activity. Outside Of the pertodl-
cal press there could hardly be said to exist
literary class-a body OF writers by profess
sion-in the South. But, perhaps for this very
reason. the small number Of works that were
published at Charleston, New Orleans and
such other Southern cities as could boast of
publishing houses of their own, belonged IN
an unusual proportion to the higher classes
OF literature. Southern statesmen. profes-
sors, physicians and thinkers wrote not for
infests the studious leisure OF an educated Idle
class, but because they had something to say
on their own special subjects, and they. con-
tributed fair share to the more solid and
lasting departments of American authorship.
The foremost among native men OF science Is
Southern officer who resigned high posi-
ton in the scientific branch OF the naval ser
vice of the Union when his State seeded. No
politician or statesman In the North has left
behind literary remains more valuable than
those of Calhoun, and medical and natural
science have been not less deeply indebted to
Southern than to Northern writer's. History
and philosophy are the studies, Tor the most
part, of men whose lives are devoted TO
letters, and in these, therefore, the
her lawyers, her statesmen, her SOL
diers-men whose authorship springs
out of and Is connected With their practical
life-haye held their own with their rivals.
The war, however, has for the time being al
most crushed. has certainly silsnced, e, the ite
sorb all attention, all thought, all passion In
that country, are questions on which the best
and Wisest of her citizens-the men whom
their countrymen would most gladly hear
feel 1t needful to be reticent. The great sol
diers of the South-such of them as have sur
vived the war,refuse, IN their own vindlca.
ton, to rekindle the still red.hot embers OF
TO tell the story Of the conflict; a story from
which no ingenuity can altogether ef'ace
the brilliant traces Of Southern daring, de-
votion >snd heroism. OF Southernstatesmen
one a!one has held position which
enabled him to speak with some degree
of freedom in tace of the victorious
North; and Mr.. Alexander q. Stephens
has contributed to the history of the war the
best account Of Its remote causes, the most
complete and searching Investigation OF It's
constitutional aspects, that has yet appeared.
For the rest, 1t seems as If the South had not
vet revived the spirits and the tastes neces-
sary to literary fertility; scarcely here and there
a fiction, biography, work OF some safe and
neutral character, appears to claim Southern
authorship. The latest Of these is the one now
before us-Mr. w. H. Sparks's memories OF
Fifty Years. And even here we observe the
must be uppermost In the mind Of the writer
q father whose sons have perished In the war |
fallen under the Confederate flag. vi the war
alone he says little or nothing, while OF
every previous political agitation or party |
ieud in which he or his friends bore part.
he has full history to give and numerous
illustrative and amusing anecdotes to relate. |
The freedom of personal description and an
ecdote which American writer's assume-and
which Mr.. Sparks, though he does not aouse
1t after the too frequent fashion OF the New
York and New England scribblers, has Dor
rOwed from Cnem-eQaOleS Careful OuseIteE
with good memory to serve up out OF his own
individual recollections, especially the has en-
joyed the acquaintance of public men and has
been behind the scenes OF public lie, pl-
auant and varied intellectual treat. There Is
also much interest In the description of the va
rious classes and races of the South, with
their distinct qualities, tendencies and social
and domestic manners. We have the gentle
men of the old Virginia families, much re-
sembling the English country gentlemen
of the days OF the great war, and taking,
wherever they may settle throughout
the Southwest, position of leader
ship and influence; the hlgh-spirited,
fiery chivalry Of South Carolina, approach.
Ing rather to the type Of the French mobiles Of
the ancien regime. quarrelsome and puncti.
lious, but thoroughly brave and high-mlnded
at heart, with State pride as arrogant and as
provoking, but as worthily sustained as the
national pride of France under the Grand
Monarque; the homelier natives of Georgia
and North Carolina, and the French Creoles OF
Louisiana, considerably resembling the hd0l-
tans of Lower Canada, conservative, courteous,
honest, notable rather for their personal and
family virtues, than for their energy and en-
terprIse, but forbidden by the infectious vigor
of their American associates, and perhaps by
more genial climate, to fall into the stag1a-
ttor ~ tbayr Nort,orp ontitvnps