The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-23
NEW BOOKS.
nr,er Reviews OF Importsnt and Interesting
New Publications.

Rrier Reviews OF hmpoFtnht anu Ahterosuhb
New rubiications.
Tn the time when It was not as common rs 10
nov "a TO stand with awe in the presence Of no
,,on and 70 consider how best and most tho elo
ment of eternal truth might be got into it,
stories woro frequently published without
~prefnces or with %prcfaces which were face
tious and blcmished with an apparent irony.
As we remember. 1t was without any
announcement or suggestion OF tho truth
which was in them that Charles Reado con-
trtbuted TO q novel certain matters in regard TO
which, whom 1t was contemptuously charged thae
they were tho product of pure imagination,
was Mt the pains to reply just when and
where IL was that they had assumed the guiso
OF fact and gone through tho hollow form OF
taking place. Similarly Dickens. In the origt-
nal edition OF "Oliver Twist" omitted to AFFORD
tho basis in fact upon which he founded his allie
CATION that oliver asked for more soup. though
he was at the pains to prove his realism later,
when tho critics sharply assaulted him; and
Fielding, as we know. devoted whole studioue
CHI pters to mako fun Of what was to follow In
"Tom Jones'" Taine and Buckle gave an ade-
ounte idea of the irresistible influence OF ct-
mate and general environment upon man.
kind, Taino going even 80 far, according 70
the somewhat irreveront Edmond Scherer. az
to declare that Englishmen were webfooted oue
of Difference to their peculiar weather. ana the
inference ana Allegation vi ulhc ~ bhab NV
erature was according to conditions and as God
willed. Nevertheless, 1t has been humanely per-
ceiyed by Mr.. Howells and others that natural
tendencies may be corrected, and tho idea OF
realism in fiction has come to DO the hope ana
tho reinsurance of an inadequate mankind. In
an attractive edition of Zola's novel. " His Ens
cellency." newly published by the Macmillans,
Mr.. Ernest Vizetelly. in q preface. explains very
interestingly the way in which Zola's realism 10
--.1u.lI-I - IL, rrniAnftnn m chi
upon the page Of realistic fiction. does not cons
fine himself to the employment Of a single real
person. He takes several, shears them OF their
salient and interesting characteristics and SUPP
plies these all, moro or less painstakingly ana
deity, to q single representative. In this way
power is gathered; and, at the same time. 10
may be urged that the process is not particular
ly new. The idea is that Of q composite picture,
and has been employed notably in the science
of photography; but It 10 hardly to BIO de-
MED that 1t has long been used. either con-
sciously or unconsciously, in many forms
of reproductive art. The mermaids, 10
will be remembered, were half women and
half fish. The centaurs were rather violently
amalgamated. and tho sorceress who kept the
key Of the bad place In Millions poem was
snaky, among other things. Mr.. V~izetellJ tel1Q
us that his Excellenoy Eugene Rougon in this
tale is not, as many critics havo declared, o
portrait of his Excellency Eugene Rouher. the
famous Vice-Emperor OF history, but the symbol
Of a principle, of a certain form of the principle
of authority. Similarly Clorinde. the very In
tc~resting italian girl in the book, who comes to
wear the labelled collar of Napoleon. which
says :" belong to my master" 10 made up of the
Countess de Castiglione and of Eugenie-which
must have been solace as well as fattery to tho
well-considered Empress. 1t is hard to tell
where romanticism ends and realism begins.
Some observers have asserted that there Is no
such thing as imagination, and that the human
mind has never projected itself beyond tho
bounds of experience. The mermaids were,
after all, nothing but the combined result OF .
perfectly normal faculty of observation Of
women and of fishes. and even THE Culprit
Fay" which does not seem to DO much read
nowadays for the purpose of pure delight, proves
nothing to the contrary, though Mr.. Lewis Car.
roll seems to have excited some reasonable doubt
upon the point. II il is actually the case that
we are bound to be realists anyway, and that
even the late Sylvanus Cobb. Jr.. could not co.
cape the tremendous influence which chains the
human mind inexorablY to facts, the reason
ablencss of making a pother as to the differences
between romanticism and realism seems to DO
inconsiderable. In His Excellency I" it is prob.
able that most readers will find the doings of
Clorinde-who, it will be remembered, poses
as a model and battles occasionally-ratheP
more interesting than tho somewhat SO.
we're accounts Of the proceedings of the
French Chamber Of Deputies; but this
proves nothing positively. unless it be that
lola himself was more interested in the one
subject than in the other, and that the ardor of
his interpretive genius was called forth rela-
lively and accordingly. But, after, all. realism
in these French books Is not a new thing. Moro
than thirty years ago. in Les Miserables,"
Victor Hugo gave a detailed description of the
battle of Waterloo, and accounted for tho do
feat Of Napoleon by the circumstance that he
had come to embarrass the Deity. The employ.
ment of fact in fiction was a device known to
the French before the time of Zola, and the late
Prof. Boyesen. when he came to be earnest in
realism, was. in truth, only contending for .
point already embodied in history.
"Burns's Clarinda," by John ID. Ross, LID.
1.-THE Raeburn Book Company, Is an interesting
compilation from various sources of the litera-
ture relating to Mrs. McLehosc, the some time
misunderstood and misjudgcd friend of tho
Scotch balladist. The volume contains a SYM
pathetic sketch Of the fair Clarinda, written by
her grandson. as well as many OF Burnss letters
to her. and much other matter of interest to the
admirers OF the poet.
There is no lack OF variety of subject matter
and some vigorous thought in the volume Of
essays published under the title Of 1.-THE Per-
sonal Equation" (Harpers), wherein Prof. II. I.
Peck ranges from an estimate of the work Of
Mr. lfoWellS TO a consideration OF The New
Child and Its Picture Book" and from a criti.
cal examination Of a novel by NJ. MARCEL
Provost to an expression of personal opinion
upon the character and political achieve.
mcnts of Mr.. Grover Cleveland, and artis
clcs on such subjects as American Feels
ing Toward England" and "The Down.
ward Drift in American Education" Ono
thing noticeable in this attempt to treat such
widely different themes is that Prof. Peck, In
writing of an author and his work, is too often
governed by the lax rules of ordinary political
discussion rather than by the nicer ethics of liter
airy criticism. The argument dd homineps
may BIO permissible In an attempt to
examine the theories OF the impossible
Nordau. he having, by his own methods of
criticism. laid himself open to an obvious
ro,ort. hut In othar caaaa tie oa,,io.t.- -