The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-05-07
NORDAU ON AMERICA
SAYS WE ARE sNOBBIsH. 1T BEING A
NATURAL, INHERITED TRAIT.
The Philosopher Regrets that PeO-
pie Who Began Free should
Hanker for Foreign Titles.
Paris Letter in New York Press.

|
thor of Degeneration is not condemned
II am asked to come in and be shown in
the parlor. l. look round, and 1 do no;
know what curious brain wave carries me
in thought TO the heart of Germany-to
houses of New Berlin, for instance, when,
on visiting intent. i made pauses similar
to this in Herr Bebels parlor or Herr Prof
So and Sos. Truly, interior arrangements
of home are not subservent to country, but
derive their motives in the brain of the
dweliers themselves. where they survive
scbematic impressions of bygone days. So.
in this salon of Max Nordau. Partisan for
l do not know how many years, 1 need TO
look out of the window and see the Place
Malesherbes before me to be convinced that
| am in the land of France and not else
where-that elsewhere which, moment ago,
has appeared to me with German atmos-
phere.
There are around me the sober rows of
arm chairs and sofas. the impersonal pic
lures. the middle table-the scenery of the
modest German salon where no allowance
has been made for any of the thousand
whims of color decoration or mannerism
that tease our Gallo brains. The problem
as to whether these preoccupations are not
itself to me, when door opens, and Dr.
Max Nordau invites me in his study. 1t
is the first time / had ever seen him.
had not seen even MS portrait before this
yet am scarcely seated by his side when
| have thought h''What a good head for an
instantaneous photograph
IL is a head of generous amplitude, in
which all the features hold well together:
the beholder takes them all at once without
any strain, such as is felt often when look
ing 81 certain characteristic heads in which
some detail is too unevenly in relief. Sun
shine at that moment glides in the study
through three windows, disposed in heTni-
cycle SO that for light we might as we'll
We'll the luminosity of the complexion and
of the evenly distributed masses of white
hair and parted beard suit that light.
NORDAU'S SEARCHING EYE.
At first his eyes do not leave mine. but
there is nothing embarrassing in that ex-
animation. 1t is a smiling scrutiny, and,
wrapped ir that halo of sunshine, a cheer
full one. / feel myself smiling also, in an
swer, and perhaps to the thought that this
confessor's eye takes the measurement of
certain things unknown to me under my
Uranium, and the vainglorious desire (curi-
Gus how vanity quickly develoDs) that he
may discover some genuine curiosity makes
me feel friendly toward him at once From
his words, l see that is what he wants.
To you. reader, who may have thought
vaguely, after reading Degeneration" of
chat with Max Nordau, l give the recipe
Of conversation. To be on friendly foot
ing at once, make him the offer of your
soul; that is, let your soul open itself be-
fore him. Do not be apprehensive that YOU
have nothing tn unfold before him, because
you have heard in America las | have my
selO thatit. lakes .tftysst thousand year to
cultivate a-soul.---Max-- Nordau will help
you. Only let him talk, and If at a certain
haf WI
he says applies to you, don't hesitate but
without false shame tell him SO. Perhaps
you will not astonish him: but YOU will
win. his sympathy by proving to him that
he hasn't been talking to an unconscious
or a secretive nature.
We start to talk of America, and DIR.
Nordau tells me his regret at not having
tound time in his life to travel like Paul
Bourget, Sudermann and others He knows
america only theoretically. All the same.
by the people from whom the old world
expects the signal of new movements.
They had such fine opportunity" he
says. Unlike us, who drag the weight of
fourteen centuries of beliefs and who can
only shed them piecemeai and at long In
tervais, they were .untrammeled by any
tradftlon. They had only TO start in life
and shape to themselves an original code of
ideas, withOut minding the canons regulat-
il'g ancient social creeds.
AMERICAN sNoBBIsM
Instead Of that they have inaugurated
all our forms of snobbisrn They arc hyp-
Noticed by duke, a marquis. This return
TO old-fashioned conceptions of social life.
laid for awhile. must be due to a streak
OF atavism which now revives in them and
makes them prize those same things their
antecedents did,
AS "Outre Mer" is alluded to: Eyes: the
author has drawn only a picture of the So
ciai grimaces which are common to all So
cieties- The real study of America would
be to study the. effects of the crossing of
races In that country. This study would
show to what extent so-called American in
recess"
the French abroad long have been a
source or interest tc Nordau-not the
Frencn whose raison detre is to remain
French, such as the professor of languages
or p, t 81. miiliner, for instance. but those who
Dy their calling or interest are supposed 10
identify themselves with the country
As we talk of this imperviousness of the
rrencn type, conversation turns into gem
e .i.ia what causes certain rational en-
lilies Tiles 10 last better than others? Then:
w hat IS the characteristic trait of the
epoch we live in?''
Here Dr. Nordau says at once: 1.-The
lack OF personality, or, if YOU like better
tne TACK or accent One adopts too easily
me me Inoughts propagated around. 1t is suf-
s aiist Tor one man to establish emphatic
any sentiment only one out of two hun
ured people who hear him will take the
trouple 10 revise 1t. The others will take
II TOT granted; IL is easier So love of
progress Is, most of the time illusory. To
redu ABOUT 1t Matters the mind: but TO co.
operdtc active.y by changing something of
U ~ naDits. OF our ways, that's different
IL entails struggle against ourselves and
that is above our strength.
LomDroso has signaied that trait in hui
man nature which is called plainly 'the
rear or the new Natural law. of which
the civilized being keeps the ultimate traces
niouen In him-as self-Dreservation. to
guard MIN from going too quickly ahead
ana wearing himself prematurely For In
Is tact that the man taken from a NON
civilized state, where his instinct keeps hin,
In torpid thought and routine soon wears
Gut wnen he joins civilizs ton. The theory
tnat wills MIN 10 fall an easy prey to our
Illnesses or civilized beings is erroneous
II Is clvilzatlon itself-the efforts he is
opnged 10 make to identify himself 10 SO
mahy new tnings-that breaks him up"
STUDIES IN GROUPS
This very law of nature which has set
in mankind's idiosyncracy an insurmount-
eble obstacle to hustled changes, sharpene1
DR.. Nordau's interest in the notifications
OF people. taken singly or in groups
For we change even physically. Some
ffteea years ago there was in Paris an i'm
portant exposition called the portraits of
the century. Nothing could have proved
more than those ikenesses of different
epcchs how in each epoch he human mask
bears a certain characteristic more or less
shared by all the faces of that time Com
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