The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1896-01-10

Course in Modern Novels.
The honor Of Offering the most popular
course in the college curriculum is ap-
parently to 60 TO one of the Youngest
instructors in Yale
The course itself is one of the most
unique ever given in Yale, and has
caused more comment than any other
given there IN many years. The instruct
or offering it is DR.. Williams l.. Phelps.
and the course is in modern novels. It is
probably the first of its kind ever offered
in an American university
lts TEXTURES are outlined by DR.. Phelps
as follows:
''The object of the course is to get
members of the university to read novels
i'll a discriminating way Most men
read anything, Generally the books are
not VILE but simply useless. OF course.
some young men. read vicious books, but
most of them give their leisure to the
indlscriminatc novel.
"Everybody has noticed that in the
past few years the novel has come to
represent the best form of contemDorary
literature: The hest literary thought of
the day is going into it, and certainly
the men Of Yale should put their time
INTO something that represents the best
thought.
''Let novel. 'Trilby,' for instance.
come out. Ask young man who has
read it whether he thinks it good, bad
or Indifferent. Some young men will
say one, and some another thing. Ask
them why. and they can't tell you.
"Ihe great object of my course is to
read the modern novel as the most i'm
| portant form of literary art, to study it
as we study poetry or the drama, to
trace in novel the current tendencies
| of thought. The study of the novel
should be a study of the spirit Of the
| times. for the man who reads the novel
| of the day keeps track not only of the
taste, but of the spirit and the tendencies
of the times.
In order that desirable form of ok.
preston may be cultivated by the STU
dents of the course, each member is
Obliged to bring in a written review of
the novel read before the lecture is be,
gun, thus giving him not only training
in novel reading, but also in rhetoric and
composition, and will state that stu
| dents review must always be personal
not impersonal; not a synopsis, but rea
| criticism.
perhaps the severest criticism which
! has been made on the course was that OF
a paper which said editorially that | was
not wise to teach modern novels whe1
there are SO many established classics
To this l would answer that the novels
read in my course are not contrastct
with the classics, but with the cheap sen
sational novels that the men would reai
otherwise. There are dozen courses il
Yale in classical literature. In fact,
offer several myself. People will reat
many novels. anyway, and should rea(
the best ones.
THE course is a recognition of tn,
dignity of the novel of today, and al
acknowledgment that he writer's of tn,
greatest earnestness and literary power
express themselves in that way at pres
ent. The dignity of the contemporary
novel should be upheld. Because a worl
is old is no conclusive reason why it i.
! better than the contemporary novel. l.
yates cannot go out into the world anl
discuss the literature of their own day
They should certainly be able to do So
no make this course as contempt
raneous as possible, every author studied
will be a living writer. except Stevenson
and Tourgenieff, and in the case of the
| former his recent death has brought his
| feet is the same as if he wer alive
! The latter gives such faithful picture
| of Russian life that he cannot be ovel.
looked
GAS rule only one novel by each au
thor will be read. The novel may no
most representative for the purposes O.
the course. In the case of a few au
thors, however, where it is necessary t.
study their artistic growth, two or NOR,
novels will be taken up. Where an au
thor has an early and a late period
such as Tolstoi or Bjornson, each periot
| will be studied.
s'The years work will consist of thirt,
novels, and, although the course de
mands much time on the part of tn
members. no complaint has yet beef
made. The men say that they reat
novels at odd times, and that this cours
merely substitutes methodical or system
attic for desultory reading.
"The order in which the novels are t.
be read will he selected after careful de
liberation. For example. Marcella,' =
Modern Instance and Esther Waters
are to be read in succession, becaus
they represent three kinds of realism
They will be followed by "A Gentleman
of France and Treasure lsland,' t
show the sharp contrast between the re
alistic novel and the historical romanc
and the story of adventure"
The actual membership of the clas
in modern novels is 25S. the number be
! ing made up from junior and senio
classes. Besides these. there are abou
| fifty persons who are not in the cours
who occupy chairs in the rear of tn
lecture room and are permitted to tax
| the course as visitors.
There will be examinations on tn
novels read at Christmas and also mex
June.
It is peculiar fact that the course i
being read not only over all America
but also so far away as the Hawaiial
islands. Some of the boys who are i,
the course went home to Honolulu TO
the summer vacation and took the lis
of novels home for the vacation. Tn
matter was discussed on the islands
and. as result. two reading clubs wer'
formed there.-Boston Herald.
Change Of Scene at Home.
a change of air and scene is often pre-
scribed for invalids. In many cases i
is wise prescription. but in others thu
journey entails expense which cannot bt
borne without great sacrifice, and means
for the sufferer an unhappy isolation
among strangers and deprivation of thu
home comforts and care which are neces
sary to sick PERSONS peace and we'll
being. Homesick and disheartened. the
invalid returns from his sojourn among
strange scenes not benefited by the
change, and, alas! his return is too offer
but coming home to die.
Happily, it is possible to secure many
of the advantages of a change without
| incurrinr the disadvantages lust de