New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-04-08
TWO VIEWS OF A THING.
CONTEMPoRANtOUs CRITICISM ON MISS
RIvESS WORK.
LEADER AND PROPHET.
Irn,n The KnnSnS CltY TimtS.


After wears OF neutrality-suspicious. Alterations
first and artistic afectatOn at the las-our hterauIe
of fiction has receive Mis-. Riyes W hat snoe ot
literary men. She tries her wings. with snort snort
Stories" The Farrer Lass Virginia, INC story n
OF Arnon" perhaps Others. Now she Launches ner
self fun at The critics in real novel" The QUICK
or the Dead" which is in the number OF Llppnh e
cott's1 iust out. IL Is story OF but Two people
the Others merely glance in here and there ana
unnoticedexccpt that tho negroes tax s sve
in the only perfect Virginia negro dialect wo naT 70
ever seen in print peasant thing to the taste IN
these days Of unnatural dialects. These two People e
rock throb vlbrate with conflicting emotions. tnoy
rise on wave Of glorious ecstasy and sink into a
blindness of gray despair They arc 9vefcolno ~
rresistbly together by the magnetism OF believing ING
same things they sway and stand irresoute aud
snccumb WIN yields TO body and then with re,
nonrishcd strength serds out its challenge again ana
conquers 1t Is queer story, too, aud yet IN no
a Bic. llmbod blgchested rich haired Venus Of Milo,
has loved and been wife. Her dead h9spa ,on
memory has undspued possession OF ner hsmnt her.
night and day. Miserable In these thoughts, TAO
man of the story enters her presence her hnsosnas
The first sight of him IS shock. But gradually
for him arises love, built the first, yet stronger
battle Of changing fortune. Faithful TO dear mem;
Dry. yet loving living man; Ihat hs icb ne essS
the lofty spirit OF the woman before him, yet 100
loyal to his gentle manhood TO ask what she CANNOT
Unless the exception be the scarlet Letter." this is
tho strongest story written yet In AmeIIcS N uS
perfect art, because II touches eHtIaN on
falls into the American vice OF exhibiting kno"ieus9
Of literature and the world. There IS pt OF Daa
taste in passage Of contempt against the sch0ol OF
analysts-the school OF opposition 10 MISS hVeS'
But il is powerful story OF itself, and as me POS
slble beginning Of successful revolt against tIo
ANALYST. and the convent Onasts, it has supcfatNo
Importance at this time. The romantic Is am No
tho highest form that art takes. hnoWlcdgc grows
away from Eschylus from Byron, from hugo ana
Dumas and while tho romance Is IN lts dEss,hg-
room the time of tho yawning audience IS hled IN
with the analysts. the rcalists tho scrachers on tne
surface OF convcntonality Certain 1t IS our reasts
and analysts and young lady book producers nave
now had the stage long enough. Tho people arc
ready for III, uplifting Of higher art Ihey are
ready to believe I'm Cod III country. In love- ia saGrr
fec Mr. Haggard told story Of III" grandly I'M
possible. and. though 1t was rather rGngh: IT , as
countries George Meredith comes into long delayed
recognition. The Russian masters are even iaShloh-
able And Amee Rives ia perhaps to no tho onIy
woman who EVER bee the .ader IL oonntrys
greatest literature II the day Of our romantic schoo
is at hand, she must be It's prophet