New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-04-27
pRFACHING NOT PRACTICE.
SENIOR vALpEs's VIEWS; AND HIS NOVEL

SISTER SAINT syLPcE From thc spanish T 81 po
pale Authorized trlil-iat on. Emo, PIP So.
Thomas !. Cr"weH Co.
Senior Valdcs has prefaccd this novel WIKI
lonr defence Of Realism - he secs ~. III form oil
PROLOGUE In all the arguments 81 ms KIM
the chief cause Of confusion IS initial oh>'"Ii'N
or ambiguity Of definitions. and While IN" main
Jews of senior Valdcs are often iorcihly ana
clearly stated. there j. not perfectly satisfactory
dcyclopmcft of his meaning throughout. Inc
Realism he maintains is. in effect. OF KIND thl'
would be utterly rcpudiaicd by the lrcnch school
Ills contention that French Naturallsm j. Only Il
uhasc OF Realism Is of course "A direct cnaIIch-'
10 lola and his followers. who Tor years nave
claimed that Naiuralism is the final evolution "i
Rcalism It's uitcrmost and snb'lcsi expression
Nor,arc the Zoalsis alone IN holding tins position
H. was taken by VI Edmond Schcrer assufcd>
ro, in snppor, or excuse Of Naturalsm 81.
Scbcrcr thought that French Naiuralism might
he regarded A. the "rcducto al ab>urium of
Realism Senior Naldes is more tolerant and
catholic in his doctrine. According 10 him all
Realism j, GOOD. bui some Realism Is better than
others Sacrifice to the "Goldc>s Iubrcity. in
decd he dcprccafcs with considerable emphasis
bnt not. apparently upon ethical grounds lie
docs moi seem 10 hold. with Schcrer. that the
Naturalist hypothesis OF pcrmisslbilty was in-
l,cions because after ALL II Is necessary to stop
somewhere: because the most thororg hSolng
Naturalist cannot set down all realities: because
there are things the mention Of which in literature
would bring down the police upon authors ana
publishers. in short. The broad tolerance Of Senior
Valdes finds room for every school All he de
mands is that no school shall pretend 10 a mo-
nopoly Of truth and Of art
His theory Of Beauty makes necessary this catho-
icity. for proceeding from l!cgcliansm TO POSI-
tiyisIn-which latter ne mctamorphoses into n
hybrid ldcalism-hc derives the doctrine that all
reality is beautiful and though lie does not quite
SAY so. il may also be inferred that he means
equally beautiful. To judge him nj this point
il is vital TO know what lac means by reality. In
,he tcrminology of Philosophy the Real is not
cognizoblc at all by human Consciousness The
reality is 10 every man neither more nor les,
than the impressions conveyed TO his mind from
without Now, these impressions are never idcni-
cal with any two minds which fact involves
the conclusion that the aspects Of what is called
reality vary in p-ccisc proportion to the number
Of observers. Every one consequently may be
said to create his her own realities. But there
is no agreement among men 10 the aesthetic
nature Of realities Within certain limit, the
most opposite opinions are held TO what con
stitntes beauty That which plcascs oncnds
another That which attracts or moves one rcpcls
or leaves another Indifferent But Senior Vdldcs
himself may he put the wfncss-stand against
this theory His Realism cannot exist without
a strong infusion Of Idcaism. As he SAYS lac
cannot 40 with the postivists in their exclusion
Of the spiritual element from nature. iIr finds
that element absolutely indispensable 10 his own
nhilosoplIy and he illustrates his thought well
by the figure Of the musician who. notwithstand-
ing the refinement Of his art edncation proved
case he argues, there must have been something
wanting i'm the man. He could not have drawn
from his art the clcvatine influence it. exercises
even upon nncultivatcd minds, when they bring
to il - spiritual rcceptiviiy. That is well put,
but il does not support the primary contention.
1t is. on the contrary plain admission that all
reality is not beautiful; that realities may he
either beautiful or ugly or neutral: that the
aspect they take depends upon subjective i'm
prcssions and that these are in turn controlled
by the presence or absence of certain intuition
which, lying behind all systematic ethics, guides
TO moral judgments.
If Senior Vades really believed what ye SAYS
Of the beauty Of all reality. there is no reason
why lie should shrink, as he clearly does. from,
the French Naturallsts. The fact n that tie
theory he breaches is not a normal product VI