River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1890-06-19
NAMING OE NOVELS.
Some Interesting Reflections on the Titles
of Famous Books.


/ Even the undaunted Dumas, who
tackles history more directly and more
1t large than Scott ever chose to do,
calls his book not after Richelieu,
Mazarin or Lewis the Fourteenth, but
after the Three Musketeers. This is
an admirable title. by the way; so
mysterious and suggestive. There is
always something fascinating about
numbers in titles, and here the title is
none the less admirable that the mus
keteers were in fact not three, but four.
and that the fourth was the best of the
bunch. the immortal D'Artagnan. But
| IL Constable did Scott bad turn over
'Kenilworth," he made amends by get
ting "Herries" changed 10 the high
sounding, romantic name of Red
gauntlet" Herries would have served,
but it is not the pleasant mouthful
that Redgauntlet is. Indeed, as the
Waverley novels are the best of all ro-
mances. so their names are the best of
all names. "Waverley," ''Old Nor
tally" 1.-THE Heart of Midlothian
they are perfect SCOTS answer to Con-
stable put the wis 1om of the thing in
nutshell His titles arouse curiosity
without discounting it. They are dis
| tinctive ana appropriate, come tripping
off the tongue and satisfy the ear, and
/ have withal a twang of romance about
them. Scott, of course, besides his
genius had the advantage of coming
early in the day, and had no need TO
shout TO make himself heard amid the
/ lin of a crowd. Miss Austen died only
very few years after Scott turned
from poetry TO romance, and Lytton was
only beginning to write as the wonder
| full Waverley series we're drawing 10 q
close in stress and difficulty.
Most novels naturally derive their
point and principle of unity from the
character or career, the action or pas
sion, of some one of their personages
And the name of that person, as Consta-
BILE urged rightly enough, supplies the
natural name for the book. According
/ ly among the myriads of works of fiction
this form of title is out and away the
most common. With the exception of
Jane Austen's double barreled. ALTER
alive titles, pride ard Prejudice"
"Sense and Sensibility," which also
have not been without their influence,
up to Scott's time the chief novels were
named after the name of the hero or
heroine: Robinson CrusOe, Captain Sin
gleton, Captain Carleton, Moll Elan
ders, Tom Jones, Amelia, Joseph An
drews. 1t is remark of Austin
Dobson's that Fielding wisely finds
room in the full title for Parson
Adams-Pamela, Clarissa Harlowe;
Richardson inclines to the women,
Fielding 10 the men-Roderick Ran
dom, Peregrine Pickle, Tristram
Shandy, Pamela, Cecilia. Then, one
step removed, THE Vicar of Wake
field" and THE Man of Feeling" The
proper names are amplified with expos
itory phrases, such as The Personal His
tory, The Life and Adventures, and so
forth, a fashion to which Dickens re-
turned, perhaps, for the sake of its old
fashioned flavor after Scott had shown
a more excellent way of brevity. His
Birth and Other Misfortunes," the ex
pository subtitle of, if recollect Alright,
''Ginx's Baby" might have done for
''Tristram Shandy," except that poor
Tristram's misfOrtunes began long be-
fore his birth. The actual title, how
ever, THE Life and Opinions of Mr..
Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" is suffi-
ciently diverting. -Macmillan's Maya
zine.