The Benton weekly record. [volume] (Benton, Mont.) 1880-1885, 1880-02-20
GROWTH OF THE NOVEL,.
The osdestTFora, of Literature
New York Times.

New York Times.J
Many persons are disposed to regart
novels as comparatively modern, although
they are among the most ancient kinds Q
literature of which we have preserved am
trace. The novel grows out of, and re
spends TO, a need of humanity; it is eager
ly sought by all classes and AL races; it il
atonce a pleasure, u stimulant and a dis
traction. Life is usually so different from
what man would have it; it so battles hi:
desires aud defeats his expectations, that
gladly turns from the real to such presen-
tation Of the ideal as the ordinary novel
tcontains.
! It is natural for the average reader to
identify himself or herself with the hero
! or heroine, and SO we get !, reflex of salts
faction for honors never received and for
virtues never possessed. The novel takes
us, for the time, out Of the aridness of our
own existence and puts us i'll imaginary and
| very pleasant relations with persons and
things fashioned after our wishes and our
/ fancies. no wonder the novel is popular;
no wonder it has appealed to all ages in all
zones.
III Il general sense, a novel is q recital in
prose Of fictitious events, bound together
| by a plot, describing scenes and portraying
characters closely connected with the story.
Romanccs, which are novels of d fantastic
or marvellous sort, have from the remotest
-tl1 ans .f the East
The Chinese have, in their oldest litera-
ture, aliegolieal and wonderful tales in
prose and verse, and have had for centuries
narratives Of social, domestic life similar to
those Of Europe. They alone, of all the
Asiatics, have delineated common, every
day experiences, relating conditions, Gus
toms, conversations of the family, without
trenching upon the miraculous, or even the
improbable. The Hindoos have romances
as ancient as the Chinese: but they deal
with the surprising and supernatural. Gil
ants, genii, demons, sorcery, spells. tails
mans play so prominent a part, and SO re-
semble iii many respects the Persian and
Arabian tales, that these are thought by
many scholars to be derived from India.
We demand of the novel of to-day that
it shall be drawn from the actual; that
breathing men and women shall be there,
that we shall be able to see in the afarac-
ters a reflex Of ourselves, under verified
with fewer limitations, less
meager and prosaic in needs and condi- /
I,,+,
spiritual familiaTs. There are now more |
than ever two classes Of novel readers
those whose sole aim is to be amused, who +
are anxious to dissipate the time, and those /
who, interested in the mystery and mean
ing Of life, are searching for any glimpse
Of truth.
The spirit Of inquiry is strong in all et,l-
tlued minds; existence and its problems
have, for the first time, fully come home to
us; we feel as we have never felt before
that we are related to the whole universe,
md that "-e are slowly getting at its Sc
erets.
Plot and pomp. situations and speeches.
10 not appeal to us in fiction as they once
lid. We want characters and their analy- +
sis; we are hungry for literary viviscction:
we are on the stretch to know if our fell
oWs be less happy Or more wretched than
we, and if they be, why.
Our novel reading is pursued with Il GER
ain philosophic energy, with an intense
lesire to penetrate into the enigmatic
of the race. Many more nov I;
Is are written and read than in any pre-
,iolls era; their number is rapidly grow
ng: their influence is extending. The
loyel Of the time is the everyday epic into
which we look for the familiar, vet un-
where we hope to find ourselves,
,ance, i'll the personages prSsrttrvsr
problem of destiny that has always batfied
,llr keenest search. The novel reflects the
lge as the age reflects the novel There is
10 more difference between the contempo-
.aneons and the ancient Chinese novel than
here will be between the nevel of the pres
,ut and the novel Of the future. In the
mirror Of fiction we always see the body
If the time.