The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-11-23

whites. l have been coming South
two or three years, and / have written
a good deal about it in the way of i'm.
pressions, and from my Republican
standpoint what / have written Of the
feeling thai exists between the two
sections toward each other has bae1
more generally received by the North
ern Democrats, it so hsppeus, than by
the Mugwump element. But it is a
delicate thing to write about. The
gradual expansion Of mind going on
will gradually bring the people to.
gethsr. l said in New Orleans that /
hoped
THE SOUTH WOULD DEVELOP ITsRL IN A
LITERARY WAY
along an independent line, with its
own idiosyncrasies and historic events.
You ought not to copy anybody. We
in the North, up to twenty years ego,
rather followed English models, to the
detriment of our originality. l find
the Southern people still English-
still classic; but in the last six ears
you have thrown more original mate
rial into your literary work than we
have. / speak OF light literature. That
is true of Harris, Miss Murfree, Grace
King, Of New Orleans, who, in the
January number OF the New Princeton,
had q widely noticed short story
which the English papers thought
the best short story that has
been written for years. 1t was on
the old French life OF Nsw 0rlears.
And there is Miss Fannie @.
Bayler, of Winchester, Va, who wrote
'On Both Sides" and Gable and
Page, Of Richmond. Page is just sim
ply delicious. The North is produc-
ing in way fine essays on political
and social subjects, an immense
amount of fresh matter, but l am
speaking now of light literature. One
cause Of the attention your writers are
attracting is the freshness of your
field. Formerly
THE YANKEE AND THE soUTHERNER
was an exaggerated character. Now
both sections are writing themselves
up in their true light, and the Yankee
is nearly exhausted. Before the war
what is called popular education and
discipline didn't exist. In all history
there has never been exhibited such a
change in education as the South has
shown in fifteen years. The number
of C ommon schools in the cities and
the academies, where the studies are
on modern methods, is just simply q
marv, lous transformation. Fancy
what this town OF Nashville was when
old Jackson was careeripg around
here. John Burroughs is altogether
the most charming writer about ma
ture since Thoreau, and he is a very
fine fellow. He is very much liked
in England, too, and appreciated
there. Howells has an exquisite
style and is sincere and conscientious,
but l don't agree with his theory of
realism. / wrote paper in 1880 in
the Atlantic on modern fiction, which
explains what l thought about that
whole thing. He is attempting to
depict ordinary common life, and
thinks it best to show society as Just
what it is. nHe has the right
to write about it; but l have observed
thst the living books are those that
while perfectly true to nature, have
the ideal, a sentiment and lofty
purpose. Nobody ever thinks Don
Quirote vulgar. Art there takes real
ism aud makes it ideal, just like paint
ing apicture. If I copy Just what
ses ! make a vulgar picture; but ]
throw an ideal into it and 1t is Just as
real and no longer vulgar. But about
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN FICTION.
Howells said fiction had become q
finer thing today than it was in the
days OF Tnackery. OF course that
raised a row. Daudet and Tolstoi are
called realis's because they write about
low and unpleasant things, as REFORM
ers, they say. Now they are only show
i lg cert in strata. In every commu
nifty there is bright and lovely side
of human nature. Holding up that
side would do more good than always
writing about the low and vulgar.
There is another danger in this real
ism Of American writer's. They lack
enthusiasm and do not use their imag-
iuatiou. All the great truths are sim
pie and real, but they deal with human
nature in all its complexity. See how
mingles the high and
low. The tendency OF the day is
toward newspaper and magez ne work.
But that will not produce things that
will live. That class OF writing, while
absorbing the best thought of the day,
is meant for the passing taste.
SPEAKING OF REALISM,
l think there is little reaction at the
North in favor OF idealism. Scott is
very romantic aud his works stand
better at the North now than they did
twenty years ago. You know James's
theory was that the stories have all
been told and that the whole interest
must be in the analysis, making no
difference whether there is a story or
not. But the fact is, the world likes 9
story now just as much as in Homer's
time. The story telling capacity is
much rarer than the mere literary
faculty. Nothing can be more real
than SCott's characters. The scene of
the jail storming in the "Heart of
is as good as a police re-
port. His scenes are full of realism,
yet he is a romantic story teller" GAS
10 our visit to the South-we shall
give the best view OF the New South
we can, and am filed with much
pleasant and very interesting informs-
tion."
LOOK out for clever limitations of