davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02

innocuous az II they had never been uttered
Even his bitter denial of theism can never
do any real harm, because downright atheists
are as few as poets and like poets fh"y are
born, not made. The venerable Professor FRA
ser's Clifford lectures illustrate the security OF
the theistic position. They also JUSTIFY Scho-
penhauer's antagonism. 1t IL perfectly obvious
In q general way beforehand what any lecturer
will do In defence OF the ordinary opinion OF
mankind on this subject. He VIII state the
eternal problem anew. He will prove the realty
of mind and OF the world. He will show the de-
fects of materialism and Of panthelsm, and the
unreconcilable contradictions that attend az
nosticism He will point out that all the great
scholastic arguments for the existence or Goa
are logically imperfect and after oil ne VIII
fall back upon the ineradcable belief or hu-
manty which cannot be gainsaid. Practicai'y'
he has made an unanswerable argument Phio-
sophically, its defects just the same now
that they were In the days Of Aristotle jrop-
ably no man knows this better than the learned
editor Of Berkeley and Locke His lectures are
a splendid contribution to literature. but they
would leave a nan like Schopenhauer just
where they found him.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02

other end, when he put his observations a.
gether and let the, idea spring to the SURF.
more or les without his saying anything ah0u.
IT, he was successful and at his best lie prov..
then the assertion that the great thing 10 Az
with humanity In literature Is to step aside Ara
let It speak br Itself Much more is done by IA.
greatest writer's. but this one thing Bazac coun
do. too. and Il is this that gives him his placs
makes him. perhaps, imperishable. There IN =
hard, bitter Truth which he drives hJrne In escs
one OF his pictures Of rural avarice OF urban Am
billion or universal vice. which does not allure
but which dvells In the mind and like Tn
things which re lOvelier in literature makes n.
deeper knowledge Of life and a larger charitv
for Its errors. Probably the reader who set on,
to go through BaiZac In a summer would a.,
that he might lave hit upon n merrer occuns.
ton; but IL would take him long to find any on.
who could I'LL tie hours with more Vivid nro'
ccsson OF breathing men and women. who would
leave so thin veil between him and the insv
haustible truth o. human life
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02

htt'e more than foolish Bartholomew Fair
show-oooth. with the foolish crowdngs and ell
powings OF which 1t was not worth while to
quarrei, the whole would break up and be at
liberty so soon" That is Schopenhauer might
nave done so, but for his perverse way OF
taxing his illusions seriously fighting them as
IL they were real. He cannot be imagined like
hume. with Fictitious half-false gayety, TAX
ing leave OF DEATH of what itself wholly
but lie" He mathematics his ghosts and
goblins as II they were all that they pretended
to be. He is always bitter because there are
no blessed ghosts in his visions All
damned. And so he will have It. that Dante's
Inferno is real and vivid because the poet had
all his material ready to hand. while the Para
disc Is shadowy and vague because human
life furnishes nothing to make a heaven out of
and hardly a respectable purgatory.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02
A TYPE OF HIS AGE.
THE PHILOSOPHER OF PAIN IN CON
TRAsT WITH LATER THINKERS.

ss s9FHia&N SFSIN IN 81 Wa%
SOCIAL philosophy. Northwestern University. PIP
xviii. SIS Charles scrbners Sons.
HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY. BY Alfred Weber ger.
fS g. professor Of p pSiqaopy
s s5s T r. MISSOURI s So chaes 0s se r Sons
PHILOSOPHY OF THEIsM Being the -, clifford N,3r
lectures delivered before the nnivtPs'y of e
r. Campbell Fraser Ii. D., Hon. d. c. l.; oxford
emeritus professor Of logic and msaphIysCst ID
by Charles Scribner's Sons.
THE POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY OF AUGUST
Haare MafHea 'l"NS Win a" ana introduction
FREDERICK HsrrsSn In three N y0lum ss sops
New-York: Macmillan Co
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THOMAS HILL GRDEN
by W. @ oesc , 6xfnrd Pp phi
49, London: Methuen & Co. New-York: Mac
milan Co.
THE I'LL OF sET1FT OR pr 1 bSSs IN q
Argyll. k. c. X T. PIP. xxi. 5;S. Charles Serb
ners Sons.
II is not necessary to discuss the question
whether Schopenhauer was right In his philo
sophical system or not. 1t may even be taken
for granted that he wrong Every philoso-
pher is wrong. be at the first glance
into any history of philosophy. Even St Paul had
his lapses. some say. one of them being, per-
haps. that he was very lhuch in agreement with
Schopenhauer to the depravity and misery Of
the human race. The future repute of the
Frankfort sage. which is likely to grow as the
years pass is really due TO the accuracy with
which he impersonated the age to which he be-
longs and to the beauty of his writings in point
OF style. He the first. If not the only. Ger
man philosopher who showed any appreciation
OF literary effects
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02

germ Of his whole literary plan. II 10 OF his
early experiences In Paris that he speaks. Il pass
my days In the neghboring library. live fri-
gally for have accepted all the conditions OF
that monastic experience which Is so necessary to
students and thinkers. I seldom go out. and
when do a walk is converted into source OF
study; for observe the customs Of the fau-
bourg. It's inhabitants and their character.
Being as badly dressed as the workmen at
tract no attention from them; I am enabled TO
mix among them and watch their bargains end
disputes Observation has become to me intui-
tive When, therefore. between IL and H. l en-
counter a workman and his wife return
ing from the theatre, amuse myself by
following them At first they speak OF the play
which they have just witnessed. From that
they begin to talk Of their own affairs. &.
While listening to them I espouse their life.
feel their rags on my back; my feet march In
their tattered shoes; their desires their needs,
all pass into my spirit and mine into theirs II
is the dream Of a waking man.
There we have the Balzac OF the "Oeuvres de
Jeunesse" and, despite the gulf which divides
these from the works Of his maturity. It may be
said that the citation applies as well to his lat
ter years as to the first. Observation has be-
come to me intutIve." he says. and the line
might well be inscribed above the niche in the
temple Of fame wherein his image Is preserved
All his life long he looked on at life and set
down In his books exactly what he saw. 1t Is
not meant that he passed through the innum-
cradle scenes which make his "Comedie HUI
maine" little world by itself 1t Is rather that
he pieced out his data here and there. read,
watched. reflected watched again, and, In the
long run, neither took from nor added to the
substance OF that which he transferred from
life to his pages. He had imagination, 1t would
be childish to deny It, but 1t never strikes the
reader-unless he Is very susceptibe-as the
soaring faculty Of a man who rises above MS
theme and, looking down upon II from the
heights Of wisdom and of rarehed sympathy,
pierces to it's soul BalzaC IL more the search
ing mind the analytical even mathematical
Imagination, which, given certain premises to
start from. can almost miraculously trace the
movements Of the game from their genesis to
their end He had an inductive turn Of mind. as
Poe had IT, and like the latter, he often arrives
at synthetic conclusions; but where Poe Is
assisted by the penetrating clairvoyance OF the
poet. Balzac has to fight his way unaided by any
such heavenly force.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02
l V
sCHOPENHAUER AND MODERN SCIENCE

SCHOPENHAUER AND MODERN SCIENCE.
metaphysic so we'll adapted for the science,
1t strange at first sight that scientists
in his time neglected him almost much as
the rest of mankind did. But the fact was
that they despised mental philosophy, and so
far as they had in mind any scheme for the
unity of the sciences they were looking to the
Positive Philosophy, then coming. volume by
volume fresh from the hands Of Augusta
Comte. Comte's theory was q direct outgrowth
of the encyclopaedia tendency of French
thought as characteristic of the medieval Vim
cent of Beauvas of his modern successors.
Nothing Is entertaining to one fond Of
such exercises than study Of Comte and
Herbert Spencer together. The debt Of the lat
ter is manifest; but he is the greater philosopher
of the two. and is felt to be so Just because
he Is striving to reach the centre Of things in
stead Of merely uniting them at the circum
ference The Indicators that Comics in
nuence is less than 1t was when he was writing.
But at that time when Schopenhauer was wait
ing for recognition, COmte dominated the whole
scientific horizon. and men saw the passing of
both theology and metaphysics. But neither
has departed. and If Schopenhauer be taken as
a criterion what Professor Weber calls EN-
pirical Metaphysics has a stronger hold than
ever upon the popular mind. His doctrines
are echoed by a whole school Of philosophers
by the realists in fiction, by a notorious school
of criminal anthropologsts; they confessedy
furnished inspiration TO the creative spirit Of
Wagner and so must be reckoned as forming
important element In all modern music; while
modern socialism, In so far as IT Is denial Of
indivdualty-and most Of it is a denial OF in
in -fc Cchn
penhauerlsm pure and simple.
Even more significant is the relation Of Scho-
penhauer to the Theory Of Evolution Here. as
in so many other cases, he buded better than
he knew His dislike Of history incapacitated
him for an adequate view Of progress and there
is an aspect Of his thought which will readily
adapt itself to principle the very opposite Of
evolution. But. Viewed IN Its realistic and posi-
tive and non poemical aspects" as Professor
Caldwell says. "schopenhauers philosophy is
simply an immanent evolutionism In which the
effort of all organized existence after life and
more life Is made out to be the supreme char
acterstic Of the world" This view he adds is
precisely the that the ordinary reader Of
Schopenhauer is bound to take: and 1t Is the
only one that the world in general All take
as long as evolutionary ideas continue to IRE
vail 1t Is thus that Schopenhauer appears to
men go diverse as Haeckel. the biologist: Wag-
ner the musician, and Lester Ward. the an
thropoogist With all this sympathy for tho
engrossing thoughts of his century 1t is GER
tainly no wonder that Schopenhauer's circle OF
readers is widening.
Even I'm his errors-n his defective eXplana-
ton OF art and ethics he was type 81 lis age.
For that reason II for no other. these errors
will no TO speak correct themselves. TO an
other age, with other thoughts. they VIII Do -
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02
! | !

Balzac worked he lived and. indeed. when
II is said that he lived for his work. a unity Of
existence Is indicated which is Of the most
interesting facts In his history In other words
where life left Of and letters began with him Is
rot easy 10 say. They were the same thing To
him and just his books will yield the same
impression which has been described as received
from his character As a nan. SO his method OF
writing them points 10 his general method OF
life his outlook upon society for himself. well
as for the exigences OF his narrative. which
ever one II might be. Sans genie. Jc suis fam
be- he exclaims. but his observation on the
relative values of invention and observation
have already been pointed out and ne has left
us 4 further fragment whereby we may see the
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02

II there are so many unfatterng things to be
said about the "Comedie' and its author, why
are both 80 imperative in their demand upon the
sympathies why do we have Mr. Saintsbury
bringing out complete translation Of the works
when Miss Wormeley has already put forth a
version as perfect as thorough understanding
and Thorough mastery Of the French and English
languages could make 1t? Nothing has been said
IN mako this question entirely just. il has not
been attempted at this late day. to carp at one
of the unrnIstakable achievements of French fc-
ton That would he absurd. 1T Is desired simply
TO point out that the best way In which to get at
what is best In Balzac Is TO begin by throwing
overheard the long-esta blished cant about the
! "necromancien' to whose false pretences we
have referred Take Balzac for what he is and
no IL far more impressive than his perfervid ad-
mi-ers even would have us believe. When he Is
appraised as a man and a writer linked TO human
life by strictly human ties possessed of genius
that was more analytical than creative, he Is rea-
sonable. he selves hold OF the imagination. he
makes his reader feel that flesh and blood are be-
fore him on q stage whose scenery, though
painted IL still the background for almost pain
fully human tragedies The Coincide considered
as human life, as everyday human life raised to
a plane Of dignity through It's own force and not
is the "Comedie" which feel is to be recon-
mended for summer reading. That Is the Come
die which gives BalZac contour" which
brings story after story the reader which alb
serbs him In the play OF circumstance about this
humble figure or that. which holds him where
the old Balzac, the Balzac OF the Balzacens APP
peals 10 him In vain He gives so much to his own
province that sordd as II Is ugly as 1t is in SO
many cases 1t yet maintains, has been said.
lts unyielding grip upon the reader Goriot,
Grandet. Balthazar Gobseck Birotteau, the
Duchesse de Langeais. Raphael the Able
Birotteau. the Baron de Nucingen-the list is
endless-sre all astonishing portraits. we had al
most said creations II it not for that curious
hall mark which they bear. the sign Of having
been done not from specific models. necessarily
but on, Of careful study Of many models.
So close has been that study. so intimately
connected does each one OF Balzacs charac ters
seem with some readily conceivable state OF
actual society. that even when he Is most rocco
as in Les Mariana" even when he Is most au-
dlclously fantastic. as in the "Melmo,h Recon
ellie" the work has a marvellous verisimiiitude
and wakes confidence In the reader more per-
manently than would be the with many a
writer OF far greater discretion. He had not
the eternal vigilance which In the price OF crary
perfection. He would launch out upon a story
as In the "Melmoth" fantasy. with an idea at the
bottom OF the effort and with resolve az usual
TO identify the idea with observed experience
He soon got into difficulties and the machinery of
his narrative creaked. When he began at the
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02
A TOO SERIOUS MIND.

It was his falling TO take himself too seri-
ousy His egotism colossal. Yet nobody
saw more clearly than he the same fault in
others. Professor Caldwell depicts him in the
act Of ridiculing that most vicious aspect Of
German philosophy (. whereby II always
seems 10 be telling us what a fact must be
before we know what it is" by saying, IF you
only thump your lectures-desk hard enough
Schopenhauer suggests and just insist with
Sufficient amount Of effrontery that of course,
such things the Absolute Idea or Pure Being
must exist you will carry your blue-eyed
Teutonic audience with you wherever you wish
TO go" But even in such q case. Schopenhauer
stopped 10 apologize for using fidicule because
the serious examination of the things he
laughed at was out of the question In this
way he rnarred the finest strokes of his own
thinking But the defect is one that will be
Less obvious as the world gets further and fur
Their away from the personalities and the quar-
rels Of the early nineteenth century. What Is
violent In Schopenhauer Will then be softened
ard there Will remain the sweetness OF his
learning. the pungency OF his mockery at all
the foibles of humanity (most Of which he
shared and the faithfulness with which he
reflected the opinions and doubts not only or
his own day but Of the present time. long after
his death
Professor Caldwell rightly insists that Scho-
penhauer's system Is not to be described by the
word "pessmsm." The melancholy In ms
thinking is due TO his conviction when ne
shares with early Christianity. with Buddhism
and with the sceptical Hume that the world
In illusive. If not pure Illusion He might well
heve applied to himself what Carlyle said Of
Hume. that to him life and the world was
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02
I l..

The distncticr would not. perhaps be so i'm
portant II it were not that it means the differ
ence between what Is fine and what is common
what is noble, distinguished. perfect and what
is familiar approachable. lacking in one way
or another This. we believe. applies to Balzac's
character, rs we'll as to his works. The record
OF his life is not dscredtable but 1t Is not en-
gaging. The defects to be discovered not
so much in actual deeds as in the grain of the
man, It comes out in this situation or that
and reveals his soul. carries the critic close to
the secret OF his genius For an illustration
OF this grain for revelation of this soul. turn
to Nine. Surville's interesting memoir and read
the following passage from of the letters
OF 1S49 written when Ralzac still irritated
by the refusal Of the Immortals to make him
one of themselves: "LAcademe ma prefere
NJ. II est sans doute mellleur ecrivain
que moi mails te suis meeur gemtilhomme que
lui, car je me suis retire devant Ia candidature
de Victor Hugo" This is defensIble enough If
you choose to grant any degree Of latitude, no
matter how wild. 20 the writer once acclaimed
impeccabe; but somehow we wish Balzac had
left II TO some one else TO say that "Je sus
meeur genthomme que lui." no matter how
tempting circumstances may have been to make
him say It himself He might have thought IT,
II he liked but TO say 1t more manifesto
ton OF the plcbian in Balzac
There was good deal of the plebian
In him, and while he could rise TO a
fine level occasionally. as In his celebrated
eulogy Of Stendahl, 1t is significant that
his fastidious contemporary was a little puzzled
by the tribute lie wondered II Balzac meant all
that he said. The episode Is eloquent Balzac
could not carry conviction with him in q sphere
of mere decacy. mere exquisiteness Of feeling
and of action. Stendhal could not quite take
him seriously in the moment which seemed
fragrant with the fine flower Of urbanity and to
readers OF the present day, outside Of the "cena-
Gle" 1t must often seem that Balzac's 1owery
dedications. his occasional tributes to his fell
low-craftsmen. have a bourgeois strain I'm them.
a rhetorical note without which they would
seem OF purer metal. The point is not that ne
was insincere 1t was that he had not the subtle
powers OF appreciation which he thought he had
and that he showered fine phrases his friends
as ne did on the nobler sentiments OF the human
heart with more of good intention than OF in
stinctive enthusiasm.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02

nold's." but the reader %
The Invisible Playmate"
will be hardly less cordial
In his appreciation OF the
author. Mr.. Canton Is ons
Of the most sympathetic
~ modern poets OF child.
hood. RE has some Of
Sevenson's daint
ard a great deal Of ten.
der feeling. a grea, deal
OF understanding. that n
all his own. He showed
this in The Invisible
Playmate " and now, ina
little yolume Of prose and
verse written for his
vAr-y.1 lola Aon1ks
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02

Balzacs method Of writing. like his method or
gathering his material. was exactly expressive
Of the character OF the nan. His labors did not
any more than his body. move on wings The
horrible throes through which his novels passed
are familiar to every student OF his life lie couid
work In spurts and compose novel In Tort
night but he kept the compostOrs In condition
of fury in order to accomplish this. He corrected
and recorrected He built up his page as he
built up his mountain Of data one stroke at
time and one reason why he was always In debt
was that the expenses Of correction devoured his
profits. For him there was never the delight or
sending an idea, plot, complete novel forth
into the world with kind Of radiance OF genius
clothing 1t and bearing 1t far beyond the be-
lifting measures Of mere criticism. On the con-
trary there is almost humiliating sluggish
ness sometimes, to the current OF his tale.
sluggishness due to sheer inelasticity Of method,
incompleteness OF grasp. Take La Recherche
de rAbsolu" Put aside for a moment. all ques-
ton Of what It's central idea may or may not be
worth Accept Balzac the observer. the phil
osonber the veracious narrator at his own terms,
and note then II the story still escapes the charge
which the most cursory reading Of it Is certain
to provoke. Agreement with Bazac helps 10 no
happier solution. The drama lacks CELEBRITY. 1t
moves with a numbering deliberation that In the
case of a lesser writer would be set down as
crudity and abruptly dismissed. The same story
written with skill, with spontaneity. with little
less erudition and great deal more inspiration
would be what It's warmest admirers say II is
one OF the chief masterpieces OF French litera-
ture AS 1t u.s. the book remains semi-classicaL
Les Marann" IS in les slightly melodra-
matte way superb performance. but 1t Is
lamentably imperfect as a piece OF rounded out
bormonious construction. One signs at the
thought of what Merimee would have made 1t, OF
how he would have pulled the whole thing to-
eether and left it as serenely poised as Greek
marble But 1t was not In Balzac's nature. any
more than it was within the scope OF MS methoo
70 see life steadily to see 1t whole and to put 1t
into his books with immovable authority. HIS
method like his character, wanted taste, pro-
portion dealisn and distinction.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-02

1859. Not lCnH ago tome
Robert de Montesquiou
started n movement for the
erection OF a statue 10 her
in her native town. The
commission was given 10
NJ. Edouard Houssin. ane
his work has just been un-
yelled. II will excite inter.
est here. as well as In
france. The grace and
sweetness OF this writer's
verse long ago secured her
translation into English.
We do not know that Q
complete edition OF her
poems has ever been print
ed I'm this country. Dut
some Of her lines are 70
be found in nearly every