New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-19
INDIAN LITERATURE.
IT'S SIGNIFICANCE IN THE PAST AND FoH
THE FUTURE OF THE EAST

This volume gives happy promise ioi
Library Of Literary History" OF which i. 10 VI.
beginning The series is to ilius'ra'e '"e
that every nation has history asuo -
wars and It's politics and that this "is'o'' "
we'll told in it's literature as 10 De
there when all formal records or cohi'''s an"
dvnasties are lost. Not recoverable II Is "De'
IN the form Of annals with dates anu P'".
names in their order. but IN SPIRIT 70 do
show the progress OF the nation IN culture on"
tnorsh, There is certainly need Of such series
MS this promises 10 be. to enaoie the ie"Ne
hiring all literature into comparison one pal :
.,',,D o,o,ber and TO distinguish what Is really
or,c,ral IN each body Of literature from wha' 10
borrowed In the outcome the series oueh' "
contribute 10 a real originality In the iu'"ie'
For "a far as II goes. IL will eliminate 'ne Po.
sibility of the ignorant repetition or ioe"''
hiring home to culture the consciousness Oh II.
Indebtedness on all sides. That Is so'he'"s VI
which the past has taken little heeo.
7, has heen possible 10 write the literary MIS-
tory Of a nation as II no other nation hAu any
thing 10 do with II. in the near iu'uie '
will be found no longer feasible Inc h'ei"''
History Of a nation Is really international eve"
.ha ,orts Of a single poet as long as they re-
main comprehensible. are seen 10 De 'hhue"00u
hv tho uides, thought Of his time. The better
A., I'D ~ imagine a thoroughgoing study OF
60, English poet Of value in the present century
.,,.o,,. o comnrehnsive view not only or the
,,,ara hut Of the Europe in which he grew 10
a.,,-,,v Thus where we know both we see
80. literature In the narrOwest sense ana MS
,o-y IN tho widest sense react intimately upon
each other. There is warrant then for Inc
Inference that this has always been 'he case
Where only the literature is left there - sun
4us,ihcation for seeking in 1t the motives Vi
bis,orv wider than the nation. MT Frazer i "o'
On favor OF this view Of Indian history ne 20
rather a strenuous advocate OF lndian oFis'"",
,t,, and exclusiveness. He passes win mere a.
,nsion the vigorous efforts which some criucs are
waking 10 link the Indian epic Impulse VIII"
that Of Greece and to derive the lhdian u'a'''
from the later Hellenic COMEDY
There is no question that the most recent w
i,herate literature Of india Is iml'd"Ne' 80
,,oatr,. nv men Of culture. the prose fiction and
the drama are all modelled upon Ensnsh ms
ur Frazer brings this fact out in strong relei'
1,u, tho novels of Indian authors. though they
borrow, an outline from England, could nave
,aen written nowhere but in India Where 'he9
,.,ola,a tho measure Of Western art they do so
,,o. hecause Of the idiosyncrasies OF an author
co r,uch as because OF racial limitations "hich
he cannot evade Their mysticism. their pes
e,nlsna their rhetoric. all are Eastern Inc! are
NOT 70 be Judged. OF course, by any OF 'hen AZ
tennis 10 write in English Even "heie '"e'
have mastered the peculiaritles OF th's "'os'
Western of all languages they feel us 0o"-
strain; All their Oriental fancies VIII not Den'
its unsympathetic GOODNESS Of expression. vi
certain woman poet who wrote In Enghsh MI
Frazer says: THE imagery. the scenery mas
even lost its own Oriental color and prolusioh
Of ornamentation The warmth OF expression
and sentiment has Of necessity peeh toh'u
down by the very Of a language whch. even
mad I. been plastic in the hands Of Toru Dutt
could never have afforded her the dehca'e
4ouch and color which she found in the French
1T is in the languages TO which they were porn
that these new writers Of India show their pow
or Mr. Frazer does not dcpreciate them. lie
holds that men such as Ram Mohun Roy,
Keshoh Chandar Sen. Michael Sudan Data
,Bankim Chandra Chatterji. Kosinath Trimbak
Telang are no bastard bantlings of Western
civilization; they were creative geniuses worthy
TO be reckoned in the history Of India with such
men OF old as Kalidasa, Chaitanya, Jaya Deva
Tusi Das and Saukara Acharya. and destined
81 the future TO shine clear as the first glowing
sparks sent out in the fiery furnace where new
and old were fusing." These men themselves
are conscious that much Of their strength lies
back Of them in their native language. and one
OF them has gone so far as to prohibit the trans
lation Of his works out Of their original setting
An Rengal into English. That is 10 say. though
he has striven with success to dOmesticate a for
eien form Of literature in his native language,
yet he feels that after all II is not his borrowed
formula but the native expression. which is the
vital thing This is certainly significant fact
10 be considered in estimating the originality
II is f.
cant in view Of what has happened in other
1iteratures No one would think Of questioning
Chaucer's national quality He is English Of the
English. But. critically speaking, the man would
lie a fool who endeavored TO account for ChauCer
without studying the French and Italian litera-
ture which Chaucer knew. This matter Of 1t
erary borrowing is a subtle and powerful factor
3n the life Of every nation. a single book
Percy's "Reliques." not by any means a per-
feet book. has given tinge ~ its own 10 the
whole body OF European poetry west OF Russia
and north Of the Alps One would have sup
posed that English poets would have been the
first 10 hear the call OF the old English ballads.
But that not the way the thing happened.
it was Germany that woke 10 the creative value
Of those old poems. and then gave back with in
terest the impulse that she had received. II was
Englishmen who were improving" the ballad
OF THE Nut-br Maid" and setting the story
Of Arthur to the cadences OF the heroic coupiet.
but Il was a German who gave us The Er
King"
But we must remembe- that India never has
been "A nation in the Western sense OF the word
A territory almost large that OF Europe
populated by many diverse races gives all the
Indications Of national conflicts. but never Of
that orderly separation BY which the nations Of
Europe gained time for practical improvement.
From first 10 last the OH literature OF India was
q record Of conflict. IN the oldest poetry there
IS the fervor and enthusiasm Of the victor The
invading Aryan was then carrying his old gods
and his old religion 20 victory. But the stream
Of invasion ceased to flow. The cultured race