The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1892-09-01

however, the book is made to carry
burden it illustrates no matter
how pOwerfully-an important truth or
principle in politics, economy morals
or religion, its legitimacy is vitiated, or
positively forfeited.
Now, it is to protect against this rul-
ing, my friend, that / write this article.
The dilettanti assuming authority in
this matter should have no weight
among earnest men and women, be-
cause they are not earnest themselves.
They have no moral, religious, social or
political purpose, and they are offended
when they meet it in the writings of
others. 1t is beyond their cOmprehen-
sion that man should have any pur-
pose in writing beyond the glorificatiOn
of himself through his power to inter
est and amuse others. If he undertakes
anything beyond this, then they pro-
nOunce him no true artist, and place
his book outside of all consideration as
a work of art. In the overwhelming
popularity Of such works as "Uncle
Toms Cabin" and Nicholas Nickleby,
written with a humane or Christian
purpose, these fellows cannot make
their voices heard, but Mrs. Stowe had
only to retire and Dickens to die, to
bring them out of their holes in protest
against all that did not accord with
their petty notions of nOvel-writing.
| claim for the novel the very broad
est field. 1t may illustrate history, like
the novels of Walter Scott, or philOsO-
ply, like those of George Eliot, or re-
ligiOn, like those of George Macdonald,
or domestic and political economy, like
those of Mrs. Sedgwick, or it may re-
present the weak or the ludicrOuS side
of human nature and human society,
like many of those of Dickens and
Thackeray, Or it may present the light
er social topics and types, like those Of
James and HOwells, or it may revel in
the ingenuities of intricate plots, like
those of Collins and Reade-every nov
ell and every sort of novel is legitimate
if it be well written. 1t may rely upon
plots for it's interest, or upon the deli
neatiOn of character, or upon it's wit or
its philosophy, or upon it's dramatic sit
uatiOns, and it may carry any burden
which its writer may choose to place
upon it's shoulders, and it shall never
forfeit it's claim to legitimacy with me.
The man who denies to art any kind
of service to humanity which it can
perform is either a fool or tritler.
Things have come to a sad pass when
any form of art is to be set aside be-
cause board of self-cOnstituted arbit-
ers cannot produce it, or do not sympa-
thize with it's purpose. There is more
freshness and interest in "The Grand
issimes" of Mr.. Cable, with it's repro
duction of the old Creole life of New
Orleans, ,.and it's revival of early LOui-
siana history, than in all the novels
these dilettanti have written in the last
twenty years. 1t is unmistakable that
the tendency of modern criticism upon
novels has been to make them petty
and trifling to a nauseating degree. 1t
is lamentable consideration that the
swing of petticoat, or the turn of an
ankle, or the vapid utterance of dan
dy, or even the delineatiOn of a harlOt
and a harlot's disgusting life, shall be
counted quite legitimate material for a
novel, when the great questions which
concern the life and prosperity of the
soul and the state are held in dishonor,
and forbidden to the novelist as mate
rial of art.
1t is all part and parcel of the
hereSy that art is master and not a
The men who maintain it have a per-
sOnal interest in maintaining it. Any
art or form of art, that does not end in
itself or in themselves is one of which
they are consciously incapable or one
with which they cannot sympathize
So they comfort themselves by calling
it illegitimate; and as they are either in
majority or in high or fashionable
places, the public are misled by them.
1t is doctrine of literary pretenders
and practical trihers, and the public
may properly be warned to give it no
heed whatever. RAMEOUS.
Ye Editor (After forms are on the press)