New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-09-20
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
FICTION AND OTHER TOPICS.

FICTION AND OTHER TOPICS.
h ism mip pp as II HousSton. Miffiin 60.
THE FATAL GIFT OF beatty sr and pD ots sss
Herbert s. Stone & Co.
DEREL1CTs. BY William J. Locke Duodecimo
PIP H4. John Lane
Each Of the snort stories collected by Mrs.
Deland's publishers under the title Of THE
Wisdom Of Fools" presents teasing problem
In the conduc, Of human affairs and one which
the reader himself is left TO solve according TO
bis own intellectual and moral bent. They are
problems as old as civilization. and can hardly
be treated with much originality to-day by any
one short Of a heaven-born genius but Mrs
Deland puts her cases with considerable force
md ingenuity and her book Is decidedly read
able.
volume have to do with the female servant in
the English household. All are we'll worked
out, and one Below the Salt" Is particularly
clever In It's presentation of character APP
parently lofty, yet bearing an ineradicabie
mental faint. That the serving mind carries
Inevitably In some recess a strain OF deceit, II
not of dishonesty is not doctrine which VIII
find credence in this Republic; but 1t may he
conceded that the story have named is a re-
markably acute one.
Without disturbing ones vision Mr.. Lockes
"Derects" deepens ones pity for the poor deViis
OF life His heroine to be sure Is so artless
creature as TO be unpleasantly abnormal. put
only one in search OF quarrel will turn ASIDE
from Mr. Locke's hero to find fault with MS
sentimental heroine Stephen Chlsey as ne
slouches from prison, cowei repentant' WIN
out hope in the world. is pitiahly real ana hu-
man. There Is gainsayinS him. Inc IN
Vulnerable circumstances by which the man
finds himself baff1ed and thwarted and mocKed
have the melancholy interest which comes only
from indubitable truth Yet the story-sao as
II is--has charm. for in making his scenes Vl'io
the author makes them picturesque ana IN max
ing his faltering. battling hero human he makes
his reader more human also
IT is interesting to see how an author Will
sometimes develop steadily and with really
passionate devotion along particular lines. ana
then bourgeon out an utterly new line, quite
opposed to his or her familiar experience Ner-
non Leo provides the latest case in point. All her
life she has been dayng with literary, astheuc
and philosophical themes, and the very nerve
lessness Of her dallyings has made her results
morbid Intellectual Suddenly she sees llsnt,
and we have from her sane. inspiring essay IL
appears in the current number OF "Cosmopolis.
and has been written apropos Of NJ. Rosny. the
new French novelist. He. too. is morbid but
Vernon Lee does not admire him for that On
the contrary she inveghs against his preoccupa-
ton with the depressing side OF life. But she
praises him for his sincerity, for his courage
in writing spontaneously out Of his heart in
stead Of following the arid path which the bulk
Of contemporary novelists Of France are content
70 tread Where she is celebrating In contrast
to the old Vernon Lee. is in pointing out the
superiority Of the sincere and human Rosny 10
the stock classics Of modern France. to Balzac'
Flaubert. lola. the Goncourts and Maupassant
She has had tender spot in her Imagination
for them hitherto, but now she bravely throws
them overheard. and her readers must admire
her the more. She accuses them all OF writing
from a pattern. Of being souess technicans II
is good to see this stated with force. There Is
too much acquescence nowadays In the Judg-
ments Of the so-called elect, Of those critics
whose 'Iiberality" leads them to accept every
thing that comes out Of France as perfect.
Words like the following are wonderfully whole
some
Different as are. for instance Flaubert and
lola. they belong. nevertheless. TO the same
school as Balzac il we compare them with
Tolstoi. Dostoievsky, or even Bjornsen. Flau-
bert with his effects produced by extreme elimi-
nation Of detail. and lola. so brmful and often
overwhelming. are yet alike in the funda-
mental character of writer's whose knowl-
edge proceeds from deliberate study. and
whose interest In the subject is due to its being
a subject and a good one. One has. not unfre-
quenty. the painful feeling that these great men
have sat down in front Of the portion Of their
life they have undertaken to treat after cast
ing about for months and weeks for something
to write about and one remembers the astonsh-
ing lamentations Of certain contemporary novel
lists interviewed by NJ. Huret. making enumera-
lions of every reconcile unspeaka bleness with
the melancholy comment, 'on a deja fat celia
on a meme fat celia About all writers Of this
school, major and minor, gods or mice, 1t is clear
to the reader that there is no reason for sup
posing them to have anything to do with life
In any form. to be alive. or to have been alive
Were II not that we know, from different
sources. that novels are written by men. and
that we run easily to anthropomorphism in all
matters, might quite well put down lie
Pere Goriot. La Cousine Bette, Nine. Bo-
vary L'Assommoir' and all the novels OF NM
de Goncourt and NJ. Huysmans TO the agency
Of some more or less divine chance in the man
ner Of Lucretius TO some wonderful literary
machine, monograph and camera combined
with some contriving and supervising mech
anism for the automatic production of types
"Opposite to this school Of analytical, lit
erary and professional novelists like Balzac.
there exists In the sharpest contrast. the
school of sympathizing. personal. in way un-
professional novelists. whose greatest represen-
tative is Tostoi. and which. with no idea Of
derivation, but merely to give one Of the most
marvellous literary personalities his due should
call the school OF StendhaL'
The novel OF this school, which has repre-
sentatives in all countries-for the great novel
lists. from the author Of Manon Lescaut to the
author Of Vanity Fair all belong to 1.-THE