New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-03-21

nd Claude Duyal whose gallant uOau
Resides ut sing sing with shaNeh heso'
TODAY we estimate as little worth
All stolen wills and babies changed az Dr'h
As literary stock most dealers know
Abducted heiresses are quoted low'
Aud quite Inferior we may declare
The market value Of the missing her
The deadly secret, a. understaho'
IL ranks with bgamy aud poisoned wine; NJ,
And strawberry MARKS, II rightly deduee,
Have passed entirely out OF family use
However malcontenIs may T III OF eh,ae,
Good modern novels are. and shall aolue.
seen at their best, W. npd them plainly Tree
From faults OF meretriciOus hhgGee
In sense and sentiment they shrink from cant,
From big hyperboe, from hollow rant
Tn art Ike life the calm nrm effort tolls,
AND not the unequal force that si96s or s"cn-
The freely flashes, but tue planet gio"si
The secret of great art IL great repOse'
A DETENTION OF THE NOVEL
When quiet was restored. Mr. Palmer introduced
Julian Hawthorne as the principal speaker OF the
evening. Mr. Haw thorne read slowly and distinctly
from manuscript his address, which was in part as
follows:
Novels arc the only books that read from selnsh
motive aud hey the only true books-these works
OF fiction -bocause they tell the ylcisstudes OF that
only great conservative the human heart Shakespeare
is fresh to-day though Bacon Is Man against
fate was the classic pagan situation. lIght ashnst
wrong was the predoament OF the Christian era In our
modern school OF fiction the conflict perhaps
The author on the side OF culture. II the art OF fiction
be not finer our day than at former period u Is
al ali events a moro sighted one. We look more
closely people and things whether or not we see more
deeply into them Until quite reeenty inc Pos &
elaboration than the pe0pe%as nan Se1 ~ 80 ~
absorbed into his own skeleton Now some OF our De5t
%asF' G in ' ne have any plot a, m suoS book
though full OF art every page may ia ehtty 10 DC
a work of art The true alternative from 100 much plot
Is not TO no plot but to plot OF hgnss nuI h ,rT,e
interior kind. Take number OF characters anu prlnR
ha attained and You will ind events occurring
on the plane OF Thought and emotion when are not
us that all external incident IL bus reflection or
consequence OF the other The dePtn IRON when h V
they will be heard, and the deeper We lay tue move
ment Of our story the deeper ana more peiInInentt
memory eye and Is less retentve than thas o no
AZ regards cbarscters you may have noticed Of late
certain tmidty about using the o.dfashoned heroes
too besides must draw from nature
and where are the and herones OF our own ntte
.Snn 0 pS neo our Stories such commonplace and
familiar fgures forever stumbling Over I'D INC
up for the unpreienousness OF our ma,erlai ~
the brilnaucy with which describe ana dsseet "
THE reader moreover will be edited and convinced
bv lesson brought down 10 the level O hs daiy oApe
This argument Is plausible, but does Il not forget the
fact that every human being no matter now mean anu
draw iiimitaSy upon that ocean of human nature
which flows beneath us and within us all What We
call great mon the heroes history only the organs
or instruments Of great opportunities anu as
saws they are the most Indebted men," They are not
ergat In Themselves. There Is ratio between
| their achievements aud tnem Our Judgment Is
misled we do not discriminate between the means
ana the cause and effect We need not be afraid there
fore TO put heroes In our novels Only le US pS cateiu
10 provide occasion for hcroism ana tue nero WIZ htenu
10 The rest himself II the incidents and occasions are
magnificent. must the Characters be, no matter
what exalted gifts tue novelist may AscIlDe 70 then
When CIVIL War bpOke out society certainly showed
more noble lneanents than II does now ano &c, yot
before fought year mad heroes by tue thou
sand and AS many great me. as W. neeuua aon
nature Is always the same ana ~ - Jsn,it
bic OF rising to an ideal as OF sinking 70 honehy,
H.. be poets business the nOyesps business To Keep the
Ideal before aud TO use the nonenuty only as ION
and negative.
CARRYING REALISM TOO PAR.
And ts suggests the question, How did this fanati-
cism Of Realism como about" 1t originally, no
doubt reaction the feess sentiment AMI morbid
humbug which had come down tou from an ileducated
and artificial past but the indignant ltoralsts who
e.posed and ridiculed its artihciality allowed their
! enthusiasm 10 carry them too far Not all
sentiment is ynpid nor is nil nguIatye-
n ns sate dicords for truth they mud dscors
everywhere They ind Thorn contradictory OF harmony
and deasm and they conclude that TO lay to our souls
The sttering uncton OF iiealsm and harmony in def
ance s the evidence Of papabe facts about us must DO
wong Hence the celebration OF discords nch Is called
iiteralism Now 80 far this promotes sincerity and
simpioy In art It il commendable ana liberalism Is one
of the iavOrte utensils OF comic writer's and s1irsts
But the acueness Of satss Ia not always balanced by
their taste. They do not know when TO stop Having
established reputation for calling aspade spaic they
| try 10 maintain II by calling carved g3Diet ny
Celllmi pewter mug The rdoule OF wnat 10 riaen
what not ridiculous ana eliminating IN rdicnie Ior
foy Which we have always with Us no matter
do. az in stuntlng and chopplng down
The Wholesome Pa sp0n wPeps genius
and refinement getting 20 be afraid to say their
souls a. ali Tbey might be accused OF dne leeIngsb
or sentlmentay." They begin TO diarust the geuer-
with the sensiveness inscparabe from the artlbto
temperament they shrink back In studied SELF
conscous attitude address In graceful and Asdl0ub
but frgd phrases and cultivate the air OF having d.
yOrced themselves from all sympathy with their own
Now may be question whether an author should
as SS'''P Fielding adH and ThacEeray do, but DO
that as Il may a worse peril li Tx o, on
eooress OF critical the tnng TO have no
continental all Instead OF permitting the emotion or SEN
tnent Of the Its unbiased effect. dscord
IL obtruded between the positive lines OF the
story and the neutral tint of the remarks,
ssIfiuyisble becomes inveteratoly conspicuous The
writer who truly iorgets and so saaa MS rea1er
himself 10 the dOmin chord OF his story that though
the OF his words be taEen MS voice Is NOT heara
communicates itself not 20 the reader alone but TO the
ana b the and 20
with wel-bred sef-restran Reserve Is admirabe put
il is hardly creative. There Is no reserve a9ot .he
bursting into and bloom OF the seed planted In the
| ground. - .,.h ,ho,r rraot cIf,a ond
their noble purposes should not permit tao cracking
under the pot 10 brighten then Intp uLts,ng
less than their highest conceptions Ihey should no.
Iapse into o shapeless realism, under the plea oil
culture" Culture Ia all very wei, p1t IL seons
Der how over the gate Of the ENCHANTED Gaste
was written "Bo Bold" the second " lie boia ana
Eyermore Be Bold" and the inner one " he Boid,
but Not Too Bold" 30, the nrs door OF tne
OF modern fiction might inscribe the iegenu De
Cultured" over the next :" Be Cultured, ETermor9 De
Cultured" and over the third BE Not 100 Cu ' "
Ibaye left myself time speak or the minor ieat
ures tho story, such style purpose, huhpr tme
great American novel, and so on In ises, Tst "A''
said IL merely revelation OF what remains ~ say
MR.. MATTHEW'S on THE INTERNATIONAL NOVEL
]. Brander Matthews was next called upon tC
81 Ii. 10. LVanll a
Of Parliament after one Of Burkes speeches. h'
wished 10 say ditto to Mr.. Hawthorne" lie hac