The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-27
VIZ pooKs.
Brief Reviews sr Iusportant and TntsPsstiuE
View Publications.

NhAs n ~. OunttE hhb
no unimpeachable evidence to the contrary,
should read IAN American Emperor" by
Louis Tracy "a. =. Putnam's sonsl, and mako a
careful account OF their impressions after the
tact. We have often pointed out the inevitable
relation. the unavoidable intcrdependenco and
similarity, that exist between the rcalists and
the romanticists in fiction. Prof. Brandcr
matthews especially has laughed at tho idea
that no should be sot down as a mere tran.
soriber, devoid OF fancy. concerned solclywith tho
small, obvious, undisputed, and uncxciting facts
OF life. Ho has been at tho pains to sublimAte
tho idea OF local color, and Is doubtless to DO
credited with tho mental preservation. the per.
tistnai understanding, of Mulberry Bend and
the bobtail cars that used TO run through
Eighteenth street to the Hobokon Ferry. But
every faithful reader of his knows full we'll that
he has done far moro than this. In Ills
Fathers Son" and in A Idyll OF Narragansett
Pier" he was indeed q scrupulous realist. eE-
alting truth and subordinating interest most
successfully. He was scrupulous, too. in deal
ing exclusively with the actual, dignifed,
and exalted facts OF life In his ac-
count Of Maggie o'Donnell's adventure with a
burglar in Chatham street, and OF tho ~sanguin-
airy ruin of Maggie's nightgown on that event
full and extremely dangerous occasion. II the
burglars aim had directed his bullet six inches
further to one side or the other 1--WE forget
which sido) 1t would have killed Maggie, and
the need would never have been hers to patch
her nightRown or to interest herself In the res
toration of 1t In the wash. On the other hand,
the account by Prof. Matthews OF his inter
view with the Flying Dutchman, in which
no renewed mythology. fable. and almost
everything that is purely fanciful in lit
~erature, was. Of course. unrealistic to q
degree, and showed conclusivcly how tho Same
skilful hand may exercise its cunning In per-
fectly contrasted ways. All OF which suggests
to us, and is suggested BY. the circumstance
that IAN American Emperor Is realistic and
romantic both-possibly also naturalistic, Inn
pressionistic, sensitivist, and symbolical.
Whether 1t is a protest against riches or an
encouragement to the reader to become rich
we are not sure. Mr.. Jerome X. vansittart,
the principal and overshadowing character in
the story, seems to DO founded either upon n
fact or upon the sincere comprehension of one.
He owned vast territories, the story says; he
controlled railways and fleets; cities paid
him tribute. and myriads of workers
toiled that his wealth might magnify unceas-
ingly. This might DO the late James Fisk. Jr.,
who was Commodore OF certain Sound steam
boats, had q railroad influence. and who used to
appear conspicuously dressed In nautical and
other uniforms. It Is probable. however, that
the main idea of Vansittart arose from q group
VI puiSount AileTlCdnS OI u lAL0r p0flOQ- BO9-
sibly a single distinguished American was sunl-
Gent to make Vansittart possible. 1t is de-
clared. for instance. that II this character
"wished to build his Fifth avenue resi-.
denco Of solid gold he could do 30, and
then pave with silver the avenue and
West Fffty-seventh street in front Of his
house" 1t is also declared OF Vansittart
that he ais going to lay out Fifty-eighth street
in copper" and that no has just added q cent
q ton to freight rates on the New York Central"
A passage in tho story which renders vansittart
again obscure. and which reduces him to q va
riety of unrecoRnizable foundations, Is that In
which he Is represented as buying a hotel and
suborning an opera house in order to bring him
self to the notice OF a French princess, an e1-
elusive person enough, but one who would OBJ
v1ously never insist upon an introduction with
preliminaries 80 tremendous. There Is q picture
OF the Princess. representing her at the moment
when she first shakes hands with him and OBJ
serves: "you perhaps do not know that I am o
lineal descendant Of two lines of the Kings of
France" She has a large head and an indiffer-
emit. inferior figure. The observer will marvel
that two lines of French Kings should have
been incompetent to provide her with o better
physical appearance. This, however, is the
fault of the illustrators; in tho text she is all
that a princess should or could ever hope to be,
1t Is needless to dwell upon the incidental char
acter of Jim Bates OF Arizona, who resolutely
refuses to box with q man of Vansittart's
wealth. The story carries us to Europe and
Africa presently. and involves us in q scheme
to make Vansittart the Emperor of France.
As we have intimated. the realism of
the tale is modified by q sufficient in-
lection Of pure fancy. 1t Is a pleasure to re-
cord that Vansittart is moved after all to be.
have like a true American: that he leaves tho
Princess to her kind and marries o girl who is
by her democratic affiliations and
convictions, as well as by great personal lowell
mess, and that Arizona Jim enthusiastically ap-
proves of him. bestowing upon hin q sterling
regard good for ever and over. 1t Is pleasant,
too, to be able to say that the incidental scheme
involved in the great engineering and COM
mercial enterprise known as tho Sahara
Limited" was not disastrous to vansittart.
and that he was neither butchered by the
superstitious and disturbed natives nor shat
tered by his own dynamite. He seems to have
been q worthy as well as q rich person, and to
have earned his rewards in both business and
love. He illustrates the happiness that 10 posi-
Die even to the rich. and the advantages Of cap
ital that Is virtuously applied. The Illustrations
OF the story %contrive to mako 1t appear to be a
good deal more tremendous than 1t really Is.
NJ. Ribou illustrated at tho. moment when
his marrow forehead and high nose wore
wrinkled into a frown of intense meaning" pre-
0ents as fearful an appearance as anything
that We now remember. and nothing could
DO better calculated to upset the nerves than the
picture illustrating the idea tina one of the
schemes considered in the story was mon
0trous" and amounted to "tho betrayal of
France The populace Is here represented as
bathed In a profuse pcrspiration; q chief figure
on the left. cast powerfully in shadow. after the
fashion of Gerome's great picture. Is abasing