St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-27
YEARS LITERATURE.
Hasty Review Of Some OF the
Novels of Twelve
Months.
HYPNOTISM IN "TRILBY. "
Dr.. Doyle's Prediction as to
the Novel Of the
Future.
HYPNOTISM IN "TRILBY. "
MRS. WARDS SHORTCOMINGS.
George du Maurier's Queer
Mixture Of Brillianee and
Bad English.

Some writers, when reviewing the lit
erary output OF the year, restrict the
word literature to the EoVel. The re-
striction is wrong, for literature includes
all those writings remarkable for beau
ty of expression as distinguished from
scientific treatises. My present con-
Germ. however, is not with all the litera-
ture of last year, but merely with a poF-
ton of that which comes under tue title
of the novels OF '94. L say my duly is
with onlyIa very limited number of those
books. tor so many of them died 4 born
in that they are not worthy Of an cpl
taph written even upon sand. Nor Is
this any wopder. The number OF class
les is not like the number Of fools.
Five hundred years of English litera-
ture nave given us not more than four
teen immortal poets, and there are not
as many prose writers who will live for
ever. SO that, if there be rot single
classic in all the vast tOEs of novels
published last year, the absence OF such
should be no surprise. Ut those novels
which were not stillborn, some passed
like arrows through the air, or disap'
peared like ships in the night. Eight
or ten are yet talked OF aud will hold
their place till dlslodged by the move Is
Of '95. Then one may as we'll ask for
the SHOWS Of yesterday as for The move!
of '94.
And yet we can hardly admit with
Ouida that the art of novel writing is
lost. She is correct i'll her contention
that the morbid craving for the per-
sonal details of the lives of those who
are greater than their fellows should
be discouraged and suppressed by all
who care for the dignity Of art. She is
rigdly right when she says that more
consideration for the Acknowledged
canons of criticism and for the recog-
nized decencies Of orr literature is much
to be desired in many OF oar latter-ldy
noVelsts. Nevertheless there are noble
passages in some few books of last year,
parts which for fantasies and power
equal the wonderful description OF the
horse race i'll Ouida'S Under Two
Flags"
The novels of last year show contin-
uation of the tendency to teach even
the most difficult branches through the
popular medium of light literature. If
it were allowable for Edward Bellamy
to give large doses of political econ
omy in Looking Backward" and for
Mrs. Ward to dole out diluted theology
in Robert Elsmere," it should be SIM
ilarIy unreasonable i'll George du Maur>
Ter to touch up the effects OF hypnotiSm /
i'll the fascinating form of ''Irilby.
The old classical noYelists would have
scorned such mongrel mixtures, yet such
distinguished authority as DR.. Conan
Doyle defends them. He says We are
OH the eve OF the age when religious.
social and political changes will be ef-
fected by the novel, and that no states
man and no ecclesiastic will have the in
fuence on public opinion which the
novelist Of the future will have.
From the standpoint of style the best
book of the year is ''Marcella." by Mrs.
Humphrey Ward. 1t is novel which
the reader who cares not for finished
phrasing or for clean-cut sentences
would readily cast aside. The unhealthg
mind finds no rest in reading about such
a conventional young woman as Mar
celia. The chaste English OF Mrs. Ward
could get no hold upon imaginations
diseased by "Naua's Daughter" 1t is
more difficult to sketch q character like
the heroine OF Mrs. Wards latest book
than to describe one far less conven-
tional and not quite so supremacy
had less difficulty in describing Barbara
Deerlng than had Mrs. Ward in giving
a good idea of Marcella. 1t is easy
enough to write in a catching way Of
Barbara, whose love is fire, whose
hatred is whlrlwind. whose jealousy
is poison, whose vanities are
despots, and whose fancies are
passions. 1t is not quite so
easy to tell IN taking form
a tale of young woman so formal and
so purposeful as Miss Marcella. Mrs.
Ward has succeeded in impressing herr
self upon every page of her book. She
gave to it her not too intense vitality,
and this is what has made her i'll and
made trip to the soft sunny skies and
soothing waters of the Mediterranean
so necessary. Even the Imagination
not suDerlatively strong may see in her
sentences the thoughtful brow, the
melancholy eyes, the spiritual face, the
perfect gentleWoman nurtured in the
lap of literature. The sale OF Mar
celia" would have been equal to that of
Robert ElSmere" had Mr.. Gladstone
praised its style and the clergymen
preached upon its theology. 1t is
not as gruesome as David Greeve," SO
conspicuous for its too numerous
deaths. If Mrs. Ward had some of the
Virginian warmth of Mrs. Rives-Chan-
Ter without the extravaganza of the lat
ter. her novels would be almost perfect.
l do not mean that she should write of
a hero whose "heart gives hot leap
along his breast to his throat leaving
fiery track behind it as of sparks;" nor
of one whose ''eyes go so deep into |
those of the heroine that he almost felt |
the moisture of that loving gaze. nor
yet of a. young woman who says to
man whose acquaintance she has just |
made. LET US give to each |
other red-hot thoughts. and not |
wait for them to cool to elm
ders in the breath of conventionaIity |
and commonplace" mean that Mrs. |
Ward is slightly lacking in what her
accomplished countryman, Matthew Ar