The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-01-27

health of the masses 1t is very clear that
Mr.. Howells admits that he writes for the
classes and does not understand the masses,
who furnish him a puzzling problem: but one
he himself does not care to meddle with.
What sort of a classic is this that makes
such admissionss Who does not understand
the average man, yet processes to be a ~reallst,
giving the average mar just as he is!
But Mr.. Howells, it seems, does not write
for anybody, classes or masses, consciously.
He writes for himself and hopes that his
work will please somebody else. Says he,
sssThe best that Won can do is to write the
book that it gives you the most pleasure to
write-and then hope as hard as you can to
reach the heart and soul Of the great multi
tude of your fellow-men." This is
excellent advice to give an amateur,
excellent advice for that great
body of u~neducated n unframed
girls who aspire to fill our magazines,
who know nothing of the fundamental prin-
ciples of art, and depend entirely on their
munitions. But for a skilled artist, the most
skilled artist in our country, who asplres TO
be a classic in his art, or who has the asplfa-
ton held for him, what a confession! Fol-
lowing out this advice to the letter, a writer
would ride all his pet hobbies till they were
tired horses; and could anyone expect such
writing to reach the heart n the soul OF
the great multitude of ones feilowmen! But
should one who confesses that he has not
himself reached the heart and soul OF that
great multitude. be expected to give any diff
ferent advice!
Certainly Mr.. Howells recognizes his own
shortcomings in great measure, but others
do not recognize them for him, and it is for
them and not for him that | write.
Still one more confession | must not pass
| over. and that is that Mr.. Howells does not
understand the ladies, though he admits
that it is for them one must write in these
49,. g,L -,,%lax. nf E0hf 1fnr.1f11r,A
and often the author of solid literature,
must resign himself to obscurity unless
the ladies choose to recognize him. Yet 1t
would be impossible to forecast their favor
for this kind or that. + = We must
strive blindly for it. n hope that
somehow our best viii also be our prettiest-"
Here is a tyrant,-or rather a whole army OF
tyrants,-who control our literature practi-
cally, and all the great modern classic can
do is to. hope blindly that he may be for
tunate enough to play a pretty part before
them. Ills words are excellent for the
sophomore in college who is turning his bud
ding senses toward the great realm OF htera-
ture, but for a man who paints the world as
it actually is, What confession OF ignorance
of what he is doing!
ssWhat, then, has Mr.. Howells doneg" per-
haps some one will ask. Has he done any
thing! Yes. He has fought romanticism;
he has proved that we must not indulge IN
the fanciful, but that we must seek the real,
though the real he himself has not yetfound.
His novels are not realistic; they are simply
not romantic, and to prove this assertion |
will offer, IN my next, a short analysis OF
ssThe Worldof4 Chance" The effort OF the
author at every point seems to be to avoid
being romantic; to keep his hero from turn
ing too far to this side or to
that. There is no thrill of en-
thusiasm; no supreme effort OF heart or
brain, nothing but negative qualities. Most
men are negative, it is true. They struggle
on in the world as they may, beaten hither
and thither, finally sinking out OF sight. 1t
is more than supposable that history will
treat the chronicle of these commonplace
men as she treats the men themselves. His
tory persists in forgetting them. History
will persist in forgetting their chronicle, for
like them it is simply negative.
But even commonplace men have heroic
moments, or, at the least, the germs of
heroic moments in their hearts. But the
apostle of unromantic realism fears these,