The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-01-17

Nbr. we are asked. Do French novels re-
rre-erf French litef we must, OF course. dis
fuc -l. Nobody suppOses That French life
.-4.b lrat, murder. duel-. LOriI1utaies.
ear breakfasts. and amatcurdetcciiycs. us IN
N'FrUna du 30 -gOboy nor ali dirt drink.
r,.as and me rest. as in some naiurabsIc
books. N0r is 10 all cOmpac, OF parties in
furfn houses. aud cscdradCa in tIc wrong
bedrooms. and gi, and raillCry, ard ncng,
aai -l sting. rs in thD dialogues oil Gyp.
AUurlIllts l- maulesUY caricature,
and I'll carcatUrc Us the detestable minor
l0.t m "Uu Rate aud one can only
l1re that Ete is q good likeness. Even a
foreigner can see all this plainly enough now.
Even foreigner Knows that all academic
Clans are not SET Of ADlumOu5 creuns as ia
sL'mmoitcl." and 10 is but in human nature
f0 behave quite Ike tle miners in "GermiHal."
" dO not suppose that all members of la
haute finance aIe iIl-mannerod and corrupt.
nor that AN French women OF fashion are
akin to Madame de Fiiri. Mr. Elskin has
written with q good deal Of indignation about
French fiction. and, FOR m0raiist, DR.
Ruskin's knowledge of his theme is "eXten-
size and peculiar But people are NOT. after
au so very bad. I'm those endless r0manccs
of N Xavier Oe M0uiepin, popular sympathy
l-aW81- with virtue In distress. The heart
of fln people. the heart of all peoples. is in
fbe ueHt place. As 90 the fiction, we see
flli there lis everywhere am immense deal of
cAaggeraton. Engineers are not SO clever
q. NJ. Ohntts engineers. Brazllans are not
30 inscriptions as NJ B0isgOJeV's Brazil
cams: ouvrlcrs are not such bidckguards as
~. /0la's Oubriers. m3reulOBesses are not 30
e0 comiue-0u "a hum0r as The marqui-es oi
81. B0urget, literary men are not so 'sair
besides themselves about hateful actresses
n- ". Bourgeois literary men; peasants are
not SD sOrdid as almost every DOdy's peasants
n0 the whole world IS not SO senumentaliy
l.0lI-ate as nearly the whole world OF pOpu-
lu fiction. Livery one has q sane spot some
where bob his mnd." and even the seventh
commandment has lnt rivals of security and
Iep0se. When $50 ask whether novels rep
resent life. let us remember that only am
lanniioslmai fraction OF any people read
nlfel-. 0r aar other literature In France,
HD mas Dee sure, There is great worthy
m.ddlC-cias- population which never reads.
They do not know The uOtciisis, nor the
u0slst- them. They are unrcpresenied,
Again. those VINO DO read iihe 20 read about
something alien tO their experience.
Alien 200 DO is all that exaggerated
l0fig3cy of romance. s0 alien that they
u0 more dream Of initiating it than Won or
cream o.. initiating IOelius, or Chaka, or
te AIliul DOdger. To them 1t is. essentially,
tlIly tale, remote, unenDel. bui cntorain-
ing. 10 be sure, IF we carried his argument
f.l. We eAj dud ourselves maintaining that
'le m aity or "a nation is 100 inverse ratio
40 the immortality of It's fiction. We border
oa Charles Lambs perll0us theory about the
comedies OF the Restoration. -til, there is
certain amount OF truth ln cur contention.
i0m0st readers. not TO an, novels are fairy
ladies'. Thus. allowing Tor eN04geratiOn, tor
fle taste of tine capital, for tle remOteness OF
ncl0u. l0r tho really small number OF persons
Who read and who are written about. We
may decide that French novels IN tse mass DO
nI give truly accurate description of
j Ieucl society ln flc mass. AS lar Is q
0.el-nei can determine, Trench fiction eX-
a--efales much Iu French lie that is eyi,
M0 Om.ts much that is noble Thus It's
Nel4rc cannot be- correct, set. ON the whole
novels show what way the popular wind
blows. and help little % produce the modes
oa.uon and sentiment which they describe
Andrew Lang, in lne North American Re
1HN 1r January.