New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-07-16
DECAYING CULTURE.
A NOVEL WHICH ILLUSTRATES SOME MOD
ERN PROBLEMS.


heroine would never have been called Amelia save
for the close resemblance Of the name to that OF
the Genevan reclusc. OF course whatever was
natural in Amicl Is hcre-thc usual thing in fic-
tion-eXaggerated by the effort to realize con-
dition OF things which does not exist EemcnDcr
how fleeing and Unconditional are tho illusions 81
Amel 10 love and marriage, and then compare
them with the highly wrought agonics OF tine
feigned Ploszowski, the creature of Sienlliewicza
fancy The author thinks that lie has made OF
his hero sceptic The mild. placid, unrnihei
serenity of the real sceptc is exchanged here Tor
the disorder of creature whose passions RUE
him, who is the victim of absurd superstitionS
about his nerves and who imagnes that indeci-
sion Of character is the same thing as want OF re-
ligious or philosophical certainty. PloSzowsiu
can no more be sceptic than David Hume, for
example. could be a believer. But so many peo-
pie like him, who think they think, but who are
really as shallow as painted ocean, are wander
ing about the word that he is worthy of atten-
ton as a specimen. Let us put pin through
this butterfly and have good look at it.
He is worthy of study for another reason. Even
through the medium Of translation il is to be
seen that he is the creation Of man Of Genius.
Sienkewiczs power of delineatiOn Is marvellous.
His skill in varying from page TO page the aspects
Of what is really single thought and thought
of no profundity originality is very great.
With little description he manages TO make the
various scenes of his story vivid to the reader
He outlines the characteristics of whole classes oil
people in a sentence. and. on the other hand, TO-
veals individuality with the utmost detail. The
form of the novel, as if it were the diary of the
principal character, makes it possible to do all
this from an exclusive point of view, which may
he tho+ of ba author himself IL is
doubt as to this matter which makes it difficuN
TO decide whether the author really means his
book to be taken as a bundle of confessions or
culver of satires 1t will strike readers as one
or the other, according to the opinion they cher
ish Of the authors relation TO his work. There
il hardly "a CLEAN of humor anywhere. This leads
one 10 suspect that the author is unsophisticatcl
enough to he in earnest that he takes his charac-
tiers seriously ard suppoSes that the flag ends OF
philosophy which the diary-writng hero carries
about with him are Of golden value. On thu other
hand hc sees so clearly the vaDidity and w1rth So
ness of results in the society which he dclineatfs
he points out so stcrny the fate which awaits the
inutilc elements in mankind, that one is Inclined
70 think of him as sort of Polish Juvcnal or
Tacitus presaging the doom of modern iinicaGsG
and artifcality.
Ploszowski as delincated in this book, may
rightly he called specimen Of the scum of cul-
ture that froth on the surface of society which
goes 10 pcrdtion every time the kettle boils over
A proof that civilization is an accidental rather
than a natural and necessary outcome of human
evolution lies in the fact that over-relncmont
always marks the decay md destruction OF the
class in which il is displayed. Whenever culture
becomes matter Of nerves and pSvchcal ailnitics.
when self-tOrment becomes pleasure 20 people. II
is time for the cool-hcaded observer to look about
for tho healthier caste that is going 10 take the
place Of these exhausted Brahmns with whom life
his ceased to be worth living 1t is in accordance
with the dicta OF science that the unit shall pass
away In Poland if the malicious strokes of Plos-
zowsKi at himself and the order to which he be
longs are be considered, it is the relics of the
ancient aristocracy which are wasting into moth
ingness In other lands. the class may be differ
emit: II may, indeed, he male up of individuals
from all sides from the masses as well as the
classes But in every case the special character
istics of decldence are intellectual arrogance and
contempt for the common run OF people WHO get
on very well without nerves, and VINO have no
OCCASION as these superior persons have. to ran
sack the language for strange terms 10 eAprcS3
their scepticsm their mysticism, or that mel&ngo
Of odds and ends of beliefs which constitutes tier
religion. Ii would he mistake 10 suppose tlt
these ovcr-civilizc1 people are not in earnest
But the fact is their fight against the cosmos, as
Professor Huxley calls il, has reached stage
where one side or the other must give way--and
The cosmos is Ike thai blank wall 50 often men
toned by Sienkicwicz against which the victim of
nerves and ancestral ira .itions ami DsJchcll fan
ccs butts his head in VSiin.
The slalowness Of Ploszowski's sccptlcsm, or
what he is pleased TO call BY that name, is shown
l.. ion
Of thought next door to mysticism If phiosophic
thought wcr. wholly matter Of temperament, this
might be true Ii scepticism were the resalt of
and tie tacit answer OF ill-donS 10 the
reproaches of conscience, then it would surely'b.
true The transition between lccntiouslcss in
youth and superstition in old age has been shown
TOO often to be Gisrcgarded But real scepticism
is more profound thing than is dreamed Of in this
book 1t is "a questioning, not for the sake OF
the questions, but for the sake OF answers That
must sooner or later be forthcoming 1t has
nothing to do with morality except as the pre-
cents or the facts OF morality appeal To 1T for
Its attitude is tentative not by
preference, but by necessity. The very
different with a nun like FloszOwski, who has ~
account in some way for ilting the girl who loved
him and then Tor pursuing hei 70 her dtdth WIN
after she became the wIe OF another
man. OF course, almost any man may imagine
himself in Ploszowskis place lie may even
imagine himself as wicked. But there Il no oc-
casion for enveloping this sort Of thing with the
cloak Of philosophy. When mere animalism Is
in question why decorate IL with woris stolen
from the realm of the intellect? When Plo>Aow-
ski SAYS that his training was crooked, he rays
all there is to be said Tor HIM. The same would
l,c true if he had been an actual person ana this
novel had been ID real biography.
On the other hand since 1t Is characteristic oil
human nature, especially ovcr-rctned and dccadent
human nature, TO cover its faults with strange
phrases, Sienkievicz must be commended Tor
his fidelity to facts lie has rightly permitted MS
chief parsonage 10 envelop himself In haze OF
confused and contradictory thoughts. But IL he
meant his work 10 have the effect OF treatiSe III
,nor.ls or nbilosophy he should have made MS