The Portland daily press., 1884-02-13
A Reform of French Fiction.

The Marquis of Tseng, the Chinese am
bassador to Paris and London, in his
sprightly article contributed 10 the Nine
teenth Century, alludes to the fact that the
French are particularly fond of praising
their own institutions and decrylng those of
other countries. The good Marquis will
perhaps feel called upon to revise his opin-
ion when he reviews the series of articles
III the different daily papers of the French
capital, In which there is plenty of self-ac-
cusation and self-reproach. The fact is,
that the French have made up their minds
seriou.ly to reform altogether one of their
crying faults-the extreme license of their
imaginative literature; and they have ap-
preached this reform in spirit which indi-
Gates determination at all hazards to carry
1t out. The climax of the naturalistic
school has now been reached, and it is felt
that from this day forward the star of lola
must decline. 1t is nearly three years since
Edmond About wrote his "rale of an Hon
est Man," which was avowedly written as
an offset to the indecencies of the natural
lists; and from that period may be said to
date the definite attempt at reform which
has now assumed such gratifying proper
tions. The evil, which had got well rooted
by the close of the second empire, was for a
time checked by the somber days of the war
and the Commune. But it began to flourish
speedily after that time of trouble, and even
before lola appeared had b, come alarming.
Inc little "feuilletonists" of the daily press,
men without special talent or reputation.
VINO prepare sensational stories for what is
called the res de chausSee of the papers,
would never have ventured twenty years ago
TO put into their stories the extravagant and
indecent incidents which are quite common
In the columns OF respectable journals. 1t
was peIhaps the steady increase CT filth in
this latter class of literature which gave
sound critics of the national literature their
greatest fright So long as the plague was
kept within the bounds of real literary form,
II was not SO much to be dreaded; but it
began TO creep into every servants chamber.
insidlously working through the feuilleton,
which may justly be called national insti-
tuition, there was every prospect of immense
danger.
so the reform was commenced, and has
been supported with reasonable yigor by A
small and powerful circle of novelists and
dramatists, who had for years felt aggrieyed
and shamed because of the license taken by
many of their brethren of talent. Now,
this little circle steps boldly forward, and as
Stunning to represent the public, threatens to
put In chancery any author who sins against
decency, by dealing with risky subjects. AS
Frenchman rarely admits that he is in the
wrong, even although the public may turn
against MIN. we may expect that the ultra
naturalists and their followers, big and little
will not yield up their method without a
struggle. In short, as in France fifty years
ago, there was the battle of the rom anti
cists and the classicists, so in the France of
to-day we may see struggle between what
may be called the cleanly and the uncleanly
authors. One thing is clearly established by
the little circle of the s'cleanly' above men
toned, and that is, that cleanliness pays.
The heart of the reading public is not per-
verted. There are still more good than bad
people In France, as in every other country
more people who love truth and honor.
aud who, without being at all prudish, are
nevertheless, too refined TO admire the dis
play of sensuality or to gloat over The anal
ySs of crime.
And what do we see as an almost incom-
prehensible feature of this literary reform,
one of the first, but by no means the last of
many reforms that France will undertake
within the next generation? We see the
joyous and sometimes frivolous Figaro, the
spoiled child of the Partisan beau monde.
the light-hearted aud gossiping companion
OF the haunters of cafes and of fencing clubs
we see this merry wight raising its banner
with cleanliness" inscribed thereon, and
rushing into the front of the assault upon
the unceanly clique. In a powerful article
just published the Figaro says it is beyond
question that the obliging authors who take
the trouble to give us the satisfaction of
reading decent works of fiction are beginning
to be recompensed for their pains. The re-
action against the old school is already
clearly marked out. The preferences Of the
public are, without doubt, for romance and
poems that are clean and decent. Each one
must now take his part in little revolution
which can no longer be hindered and those
who cannot conform to the public taste will
have to suffer These refractory ones will
probably not be very numerous. "They had
created genre or wrinkle in literature,
but We question very much whether they
found it really agreeable to roll and battle
themselves in filth. Can we believe that
filth Of imagination, because that is the
only filth which we are discussing, procures
There are thousand indications that, IL the
readers continue to denote their firm desire
to have Clearly stories, nearly all authors
will serve them clearly stories. The fact is
incontestable, we prefer clean romauces,
just as we prefer clean shirts. You may
say. If you like, that our hearts are none the
less depraved. but you shall not say that our
taste is so. So let us forward without any
equivocations. Let us not pretend that we
are Josephs. We none of us claim to be
angels. Every one will tell you, as often as
you wish to hear it, that he is neither pru-
dish nor exacting, and that he will readily
accept in novel as much incendiary, but
it must be real fire. Put as much of it into
your stories as you wish, and no one will
complain"
II will be interesting to see what the
chiefs OF natnralism will reply to this and
to various other assaults made upon their
method. We shall probably be treated to
flood OF nauseous verbiage, in which the
nasty school will endeavor to cover up its
real animating purpose and to keep its foot