Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1894-10-13


Though | have some optimistic re-
marks to end with. it does appear to
myself that the British novel suffers
from Divers banes or curses. The first
: the spread of elementary education.
100 many naturally non-literary peo-
81" of all ranks are now goaded into
acquiring a knowledge of the inven-
J.nn of Cadmus. When nobody could
read. except people whose own liter
nature impelled them to learn. better
books were written, because the pub
''c. if relatively few, was absolutely
it. Secondly these newly educated
people INSIST on our next curse-"ac-
quality" They live solely in the dis
-l'actrd moment, whereas true litera-
lure lives in the absolute, in the past
,llat. perhaps. never was present, and
hat is eternal. elves. in fantasy"
Shakespeare did not write plays about
contemporary ''problems." The Greek
.':alnatsts chose their topics in the
lies of Troy. and Thebes, and Atre-
lS> line. The very Fijians, as Mr..
;a$ | Thomson informs us, twill tell
# gods and giants and canoes greater
han mountains, and of women fairer
Ihan the women of these days, and of
loingS So strange that the jaws of the
;>trnerS fall apart" They don't deal
W tn problems about the propriety of
''annbal,sm or the casuistry of poly
-a:ry. The Athenians fined, for his
:lodcrnite, the author of play
IN the fall of AIiletus. be-
raIl>c he reminded them of their
miSfortunes." But many of our no.
vvliStS do nothing. but remind us of
Hrthing but our misfortunes. Novels
IRE hecom ing tracts on Parish Coun-
t. Is. Free Love and other inflamma tory
Dpics, and the reason of this ruin is
hat til" vast and the naturally non
tcrary majority can now read. and,
# coarse. can only read about the ac-
iy'al about the noisy. wrangling mo-
'n"nt This is the bane of the actual.
Of course. | do not maintain that con-
temporary Ife is tabooed against
n"vrl:StS. But if novels of contempor-
ary life are to be literature are to be
permanent. that life must either be
rented in the spirit of romance and
fantasy. as by Balzac and the colos-
sally fantastic lola. or in the spirit
Of humor. as by Charles de Bernard,
Fielding, Thackeray. Dickens. The
thrifty plan of giving us sermons,
politics. fiction. all in one stodgy
sandwich. produces no permanent
literature. produces but temporary
tracts for the times" Fortunately,
we have among us many noveliSts-
Young ones. luck :ly-who are true to
HE primitive and eternal. the Fiiian,
rannnS of fiction. We have Oriental
"omance from the author of "Plain
Tales from the Hills" We have the hui
Nor and Notwithstanding not
F'jan. | admit-which produced that
masterpiece. "A Widow in ThrumS;"
we have the adventurous fancy that
gives us "a Gentleman of France"
"rhe Master of Ballantrec," micah
Clarke" 1.-The Raiders" THE Prisoner
of Zrnda," and the truly pr,meval or
trGglodyte imag nation which. as we
read of the fight between Il knob-noSed
kaffir dwarf and Il sacred crocodile,
brings us into touch with the first
hearers of Heracles. or Beowulf's or
Grcttir'S deeds. 80 strange that the
jaws of the listeners fall apart" Thus
we possess outlets for escape from
ourselves and from to-day. We
can still dwell. now and then. in the
same air of pleasure as our fathers
nave breather since the days of
Homer Such are the rather intolcr-
ant IDEAS Of Il book worm. who by no
means grudgeS the pleasure which
other readers receive from what does
not place them into enthusiasm. And
pleasure. not cditication. IS the end of
all art. We are all pleased when we
write: Il public Of one enthuS asst every
author enjoys. and the literary men
who dcprcc'ate the joys of Their own
art. or profession. may not he con-
SrinuSly uncandid. but they are de-
r'dcly perferse.-Andrew Lang in New
York Critic.