Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-06-21

many booksl Perhaps those who are not
especially enthusiastic about his writings
feel that several of his novels subserVe
mo purpose; but in giving to the literary
world his latest work, which he calls
"Jude, the Obscure" ne has committed
the objectionable sin of writing some
thing which has not the slightest excuse
for having been written.
This story of Hardy's, of nearly 500
pages, which ran for months in Harpers
Magazine as Hearts Insurgent," has lit
tie or no literary qualifications to COM
mend it. The style is ordinary to medi-
ocrity; the haracters weak Vascilating
and constituencies in the main, and the
plot eXecrabe and debasing, That the
same brain which originated that mas
terpiece of English novel writing, Tess
of the d Urbervillcs,' could have formu-
lated plot so full of such conglomera-
ton of disgusting incidents as are told in
Jude" is one of the inexplicable happen
ings Of today. Hardy, in this latest novel,
has reached the utmost limit of real
ism,' and has stepped over the border
into the wide field of sensationalism.
Even the pathos of the story cannot save
it from this verdict. He has shown us
in Jude a miserable grade of humanity,
with all its repulsive weaknesses, for no
good whatever, and through the long
drawn out narrative not a single moral
lesson is taught. The marvel of 1t is why
Hardy should have chosen to describe so
many inferior types of humanity with
out one strong character to stand in vivid
contrast. The scene is laid, of course, in
England and among the plain people.
Quaint cathedral towns and picturesque
villages furnish the background for the
various incidents ard characters. But
there is an utter lack of color save the
monotony of misty grays, that like fogs
from seas rest heavily upon the entire
picture. There are no high lights, not
ray of sunshine, even from behind the
clouds that lower and Cypress.
The types of men and women Hardy
has selected with which to fill his book
are not representative; they are abnor-
mai in any walk and grade Of life. They
are almost entirely free from honesty of
purpose, honesty Of lives, and are with
out that sympathy and humor which
generally belong to the class he describes.
His men and women in Jude are in no
sense typical; weak in character, feeble
in resolve and are simply puppets which
he moves hither and thither through the
many pages in order to give him an
excuse to write unreserVedly of the low
est instincts of mankind without teach
ing a moral truth. Hardy fails igno-
miniously in attempting to represent
Sue, the heroine, as a woman of any
force whatever Notwithstanding her evil
dent refinement-by comparison-and
her higher order of intellect. When the
tests are applied by series of wellnigh
impossible complications, she proves to
be but degree better than Ara bella, a
woman of the coarsest nature, entirely
lacking in conscience and incapable of
remorse. Both these women, of course,
love Jude, although Hardy has made
of his hero such tiresomely common
place fellow that you never become rec
onciled to the effect he has upon the lives
of Sue and Arabella Jude is ordinary to
degree, mentally, morally and phySic-
ally, and there is no apparent reason for
his fascination, yet upon this foundation
Hardy has built story of sin, sorrow,
suffering and death. Phillotson, the
school teacher, is the only prominent fig
ure in the book who Is not also promi-
nent sinner but we are not permitted to
enjoy his good qualities because of his
strange asquiescence in the peculiar doc
trineS of his erring wife and his unac-
countable willingness to assist her in
living life in accord with those doc
trines. The pitiful death of Jude is a
fitting close to a book which is nothing
more nor less than hideous literary
nightmare.
1t is nightmare, and when you have
closed the book you come back to every
day life with a start, rub your eyes, take
q long breath-whch still has a sob of
terror and fight in it-and feel very
thankful that you do not live in such a
world as Hardy writes of in Jude" but
that the people you know in all classes
ara oc 20 ~ ra,,,o1,o5 fror, tboca Of ,,bop,
b. +o1Is &c ~, 80 fro,,, H. snoa,,s 80
ntber nncanny thjngs which nennle a
disaasad brair r. lie q tran,nndo,,s nitw
that q Wv nonno+ o1w,avs hoid tha ~ ~,
sition of an,inanoo +bot 10 hos ,tto;ned
baoouse of bic genius Tbe dasira ~ ~
come sensational seems to be the rock
"a I1ora,, q, tha ,,reface 70 "Iuaa ;, sovs.
az. n n9,,ai addrassed nv q noen ~ ,,,an
on5 vuon,an of fu1l ooa Witch a+tennnts
90 deoI ,,naffaotedlv With Tho fret and
fo,,er derision end disas+er tbat nav
nress in the wake Of the strongest mas,
eion Lnown 70 humanitv ana 70 naint
1ritbo',t a mincing Of words tba tra redv
of unfuIiIlad aims am MOI aware tbere
H. snvthinp in the handling to which ex-
cention can he taken" VET notwith-
etandino the comnlacencv Of This inter-
ence The admirers of Hardv,s greatest
nnvel "Tass Of tho D,ITharvi,ies must
admit he committed a fatal thunder when
he wrote "Juda tho Obscure
"
Tn diract contrast to This story of
"Iude" stand the fonr novels "The MANY