The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-01-18
OUR LITERARY BUDGET.
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE FIELD
OF CURRENT LITERATURE.
The Close Of the Present Century ~ Com
pared In Literary Production with the
Opening-The biundsrs OF Distinguish-
ed Authors-LiteraryN Notes.

The Close Of the Present Century ~ Com
pared In Literary Production with the
Opening Biundsrs of Distinguish
ed Authcrs-Litersrv Notes.
One may permissibly consider few Of
the questions suggested by the close OF the
nineteenth century as affecting American
literature, which hardly existed at all prior
10 that century; for the student Of art-forms
will hardly concern himself with Edwards
on the win, or the papers Of Franklin, or
the political writings Of the matchmaking |
era, save as groundwork Of what was
built upon them. Between 1870 and 1910
were born nearly all the men who gave our
literature its commanding position and In
ternatiopal renown. II IL suggestive, as
! we think, OF the possible writings Of the
closing wears OF the century, TO reflect that
| In the few years between 1901 and 1910 we're
| born Hawthorne, Emerson, LoDgfellov',
Holmes, Whittier and Poe, without whore
writings our essentially and lastlnely val
liable literary product would shrink 81
least one-half. In 1891 four Of the siI
are dead. Whittier, like the veteran
Bancroft, the last survivor OF theI
older group, expects to write no more
and Holmes gave us a sort Of valedictory
in his latest volume. Parkman alone re-
mains OF our greater historians. In ora
tory, though we may have dozen speech
makers as good as Clay, no second Webster
has appeared, and the essayist and poet
| Lowell. with whom IL Is impossible TO con-
meet the thought Of ase, apparently pro-
ceeds but slowly With that study OF Haw-
thorne which we are eagerly awaiting.
Meanwhile every one Of our better poets
and novellsts OF the period next following
that OF lowell and Whitman and Motley
and the men OF 1870 has reached period IN
} life considerably beyond that In which the
authors already named bad become famous
! and had practically won their present po-
sItion OF recognized attainment. Two re-
Elections mitigate the ENCOURAGEMENT,
though they cannot REMOVE the regret, felt
I by the American reader as he looks forward
Z 10 1900 and awaits the further command 10
"Close NJ the thinned, Immortal ranks.'
y The hrst Is, that every student Of literary
J, history must recognize the existence OF ca
= tastrOphism as we'll as OF evolution. The
progress Of no art is symmetrical and con-
tinuous. After decline comes renewal
:, after an excess reaction. Examples car
: : so readily be supplied that none need be
u mentioned. BY chance rather than by any
= the whole literary world is in position moi
!. unlike our own. Save Tennyson, what poe
) or novelist now lives in England 10 follow
:, Browning, Dickens, Thackeray, or George
= ELLIOTT In France is no Hugo; nor would
any half-dOzen critics agree in mentioning
the so-caled great names Of the literature'
! OF contemporary Germany, Italy, Spain, Of
= Scandinavian 10 some TOlstoi is a prophet
," TO others a TAD. To some the work OF Ibser
Inn nf "A m nh al n TOR
Ia | wise In bis own time; TO others the miscella
= neous a FOUNDATIONS Of the inyeterate pro
! prietor OF defective camera. The world O
:! letters 10 1891 is in a state not wholly unlik
y that OF literary England in lT9i and Will
We may not be about to have q new epoch
= making volume OF Lyrical ballads, some
:, thing equally significant is sure to be deyel
Oped from the opulence OF modern material
!. In America, too. there is at least one dlyis
:, ion Of literature in which was never so wide
~, spread excellence az to-day. | refer, O
~ course, 10 our fiction OF folk-life, from tn
- books OF Miss Jewett, Of Maine. TO those q
Mr.. Gable, Of Louisiana; from Miss Wool
sons stories Of Michigan to Mics Murfree'
tales Of the Tennessee Mountains. II W
., have no master, no great writer OF novels 0
~ romance, we have a dozen makers of tn
. short stories which are the best in the world
o. with the possible exception Of some few re
=, cent French tales-for France is passin
:, through a milar revival. The breadth an
"a depth OF actual American life was neve
~ portrayed so wisely, so seriously, so dis
y, y, tinctively, so artistically, as to-day. Sew
~ eral Of our minor story-tellers are now able
=. with an admirable reserve, to portray tn
"a ideal Ia terms Of the real. This power. a
~ | least, is sure TO continue TO show itself il
-, the closing decade Of the nineteenth cen
~ tury.-Professor Charles +. Richardson, il
~ the New York Independent