The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-10-04
LITERARY REPUTATION.
San rransiseo t,hranlelr.l l


 Of their contemporaries to a place on hmes eternal head-roll.s it is ques- tionahie whether Chaaces os Ssakezpeare ever gave thought to the perpetuisy of their names. Modem commentators on these poets have argued from their char acters and writings HoTe things than these wonhies ever dreamed of. They yere simply men of genius, without one trace of that selfconsciousness which nos seems 10 be so closely alhed with all intellectual power There is no trace oi effort in the work of these early giants ot English literature: none of then produe sions smell of the lamp and none have that undes,one of unappreciation which Is the refrain of so many oi our modern bards. These men were head and shoal- defx above even the brilliant company ln which they moved. ye, it took more than two hundred years so bring the worid 10 fairly estimate their intellectual stature The Ehsabe,han age was ihe golden age in the history ot literature Genius was common possession. Even the lAn- guage fel, the influence of the universal spirit and gained a richness and force un- known before and unparalleled since Net Shakespeare, by his own contempos- arcs, was undest atcd. and the gencs a,ion which immediately followed looked on him IS at best barbarian. whose genia. ran beyond all bounds and whose riches, gems were burned beneath mass oi base orc Every age since then has seen the s,me cunous reversal ot literary iaig- nents. The queen Anne poets and poeissters regarded tope as the great man oi hl, umc and predicted tha, hc would oeegpy place above Milton oi any of the poets who had gone before him The worsa has ovcf,hrown ,hiS clam by refusing even ,o pcrpesuate the mcasufc which the autkor of the Essay on Man spen, insssme m bringing to such admirable perfection. In ,urn, his weaker imi,aiors ~ese iauded to the skies, and II was only ate, the middle of the eighteenth century that nature once more snpplanted art Tn poetry and other litera- iure. and that the genius of the erea, master of Elixabethan verse was fairly recognized.
 h our own day many eases oi faulty judgment oi literary reput ation may be cited. American literature not to go any further furnishes a long list Moth ing IS more dreafy than to read the no noes of celebrities, each of whom is gwen many pages in Duyekn,ek's i'm. posing cyclop.e iiA. Nlne-tenths of them are not even known by name to. day. ex- oept by special students of our liter aturc. Their works are unread because they are unIeadable. They belong as wholly to another age as though they had lived when the pyramids were built and had of k~.. ~f. t..k N.xl change in literary fashions can ever re- habilltate the,. any more than a mummy can be restored to life outside of her. bulieEs charming romance. Even the great populations which inspired ave in our minds when we were young have , strangely dwiudied. Washington Irving ls sbou, the only author of his tune who has kept his hold on ,hc reading public. His charming style and hIs keen scnse of humor wiil always make hum classic despite his many antiquaied features. OtI the remainder ii may be truly sad that literature has been benefited by the,i de- mise but ,heir speedy ertinoton sug- ges,s the painful query whether the close of the twentieth century vail mol see many of the presen, rcigning literary ts,oIites Ielcgated to the same i,mbo of forgetfulness Much of the vogue of A large part of the bes,-known foreign and American literary men of today de. bends upon the,I appeal to moods and feelings which are as subject to change as the cut oi one garments. The poetry of Ciough and Kossetti viii probably he uninteliigible to the twentieth century man who has a sound mind tn the body of an athlete and 10 whom doubt and despondency will be as foreign as they were io the Greek in the heso,, age. ] But there are other instances of deead enee of literary populations not due to any changes in public taste, but solely to the deterioration of the author Fame and success have spoiled more literary genius than failure. Not to go beyond our own time in England, II hope.essIy maued the life work of Thomas Carl,Ie There are many who believe that Frouds unfortunate idea of the dnsies of a literary execu,or has greatly damaged Carlyles reputation. ba, we fancy that the revela- ,ions of domestic selil,hnes made ID he biography and the ~Iies letters will soon be forgotten. Wha; came, be wiped asay from recollection, ho~evef. IS the miserably poor work which the great es- szyisi and philosopher did ln hss old age his feeble glorihcaiIon Of the strong man and his advocacy of the doctrine thA, might makes right The student oi his works in coming years will spend little time over Froude's pondesous biography. He will seek in CaSlyles works for the mans real spirit. France furnishes two examples Of a similar fate which awaits two of the leading literary msn of that country. Victor Hugo has produced in the last ten years enough bad literature to neuualIe much oi the work of his prime. He has suffered from an sggra- l ration Of all the worst faults of his early style and method, ~Gd the fsssa ss lhat The Aan Who Laughs ," and Ninety three" read as though written by nsn who had the del,rium tremens. We can pardon the long digress,ons on rAsis.an argos and the pzshos oi tse isyss's diary I L.. k~ S~ <.f tk