The Portland daily press., 1882-10-17
Providence Journal.1
American Life in Literature


American Life in Literature
The aboriginal Yankee has vanished from
the stage and from literature without leaving
any permanent mark in either, notwithstand-
ing that he was at one time in this country, and
still is in Europe, regarded as the typical
American, except in the verses Of Hosea Big
low, and possibly to-a small extent in ths sto
ries Of Sam Slick. In fact, taking all things
into consideration, it is singular that SO few Of
the remarkable and distinct phases of Ameri
can life have been worthily represented in our
literature of the higher imaginative order
Hawthorne has embalmed the stern figure of
the Puritan in immortal prose, touched, how
ever, with the lights of sombre imagination
entirely alien to the mind of the subject
Cooper may be said to have preserved the type
of the early American woodsman, although he
SO signally failed in the companion picture Of
the American Indian, which, however striking
the portrsiture is mere figure of melc.
drama. Mr.. Bret Harte has drawn in vivid
colors the strong and characteristic portrait of
the California miner and adventurer although
both he and his imitators are doing their best
to confuse the impression by a later extrava-
the Southern negro is being made to reveal
himself in his real humor, strong and childish
imagination, and deep feeling, in the "Uncle
Remus'' of Mr.. Joel Harris, notwithstanding
the multitude of pages and volumes in which
attempts have been made to draw him from an
outside view. The negro has had place on the
minstrel stage, oftentimes with great humor
and naturalness; but in real and permanent lit
erature, it is not too much to say that he had
not made his appearance until an author famil-
- L.
derstanding, sympathy, and literary faithful
ness, Transcribed him in copy, whose genius
is half obscured by the realism.
1t cannot be denied that there are many and
striking phases of American life which exist
now or have passed away without any adequate
representation in imaginative literature. There
is the American Indian, who, in spite of the
faithfulness, or at least the beauty, of the rep
resentation of the mystic and legendary side of
his character in ''Hiawatha," is passing to obi
won without anything to give an adequate rep
resentation of the ferocious childishness of his
nature and his barbarian virtues and vices ex.
cept in the historical pages of Parkman. And
yet he is the subject of enough volumes to fill
an enormous library. The early backwoodsman
has also passed away without any better repre-
sentation, except in the peculiar type of Natty
Bumpo than is to be found in the melodram-
attic pages of mick of the Woods" Where is
the typical American sailor and soldier that can
be found, as the British prototypes are, in the
pages of dozen special writers? In our life of
to-day, the Irish-American element is a very
marked and peculiar class, hat it has made no
appearance in literature whatever, except up
on the variety stage, where, by the way, its
rich huAor and originality are abundantly
shown in the representation of dramatic writ
er without any literary faculty except that of
natural humor and close observation, and who,
by those qualities alone, has drawn the atten-
ton OF culture and intelligence to what was
merely intended to please the class from whom
the tVn9g taken We mAan who
has no more fashionable literary rank than Mr..
Edward Harrigan. The German American ell
ement, in spite of its abundance and the litera-
ry culture of its upper classes, is entirely
without representation in literature, and the
same is to be said of hundred equally yalua-
BILE and rich fields for study and reproduction.
We have omitted to mention in he brief list
OF worthy pictures of types of American char
actfr, the recent sketches of Creole life in Lou
isiana by Mr.. Edward Gable, although thew
suffer somewhat from labored puisse and r.
wings portrait of the Knickerbockers, although
they are somewhat obscured by the Addisonian
humorist; but with the most liberal exceptions
that can be made, it is not to be denied that
many and wonderfully rich phases of Ameri-
can have life found o adequate and faithful rep
resentation in literature.
They lie open at every hand. There can
hardly be more attractive field for humor and
ts ss1esS ghs 81 aeetSn than the descen
voyager to the peaceful and prolific habitant
put although they have long been known and
are settling among US in close contiguity, not
an eye has been turned to study their quaint
and interesting character. Hundreds of other
instances might be mentioned. but any thought
on the subject at all will show how rich and
how neglected is the field. There is lack of
nationality and realism in American literature,
which initiates the form of European, and
when it studies American life does SO mainly
in that which is copy of European society
OF the value of this devotion to familiar and
national scenes, literature has thousand ex-
amples. 1t is too much to say that great writ
ers cannot succeed with subjects of foreign
study or pure Imagination, but there is a great
strength even for the highest genius in those
which have become absorbed by daily life and
inheritance, and are known by unconscious
knowledge, while many, who have no higher
gifts than sympathetic observation and pure
taithfulness have achieved permanent place
in literature. The single success of such writ
ers as John Gait and Miss Milford in painting
the familiar and commonplace life they knew.
while they failed in more ambitious attempts,
and the present example of such writer as
Bjornsen, are sufficient to show what rewards
wait on faithfulness, sympathy and realism.
American authors should have their ewes at
home and study what is about them. They
would find success and reward in it.