The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-02
BOOKS OF THE TIME.
Emerson, and other Essays, by John
Jay Chapman.

attention, have been gathered into a volume
by Charles Scribner's Sons The study OF
Emerson. when 1t was first published.
aroused some protests from the worshipers
OF that philosopher because 1t pointed out
certain flaws in their idol, but the flaws
i were those OF temperament and inheritance,
and the protests seemed uncalled for.
Speaking of his failure to understand Mar
garet Fuller's warm-hearted impulsiveness.
Mr.. Chapman says: This aenemic incom-
pleteness OF Bmerson's character can be
traced to the philosophy of his race (the
P~uritans); at least it can be followed in that
philosophy" Emerson was not a patriot In
the ordinary sense. He was not at first in
| sympathy with the Abolitionists for the
reason, mainly, that he disliked the crude
methods OF agitators, but he finally be-
came an ardent champion OF the cause, not
from pity for the slave, but through his In
cignation with Webster for his offense
against the moral law in permitting the
passage OF the fugitive slave law Not a
boy in the land" says the essayist, "wel-
ONE the outbreak Of the war so tiercely as
did this shy village philosopher, then at the
age OF ffty-edght. He saw that war was
the cure for cowardice, moral as well as
physical. 1t was not the cause OF the slave
that moved him; it was not the cause of
| ZIG OulOn lOT WHICH he CdTGQ d Ldl ll4h6
It was something deeper than either of
these things for which he had been battling
all his life. 1t was the cause Of character
against convention. Whatever else the war
might bring, it was sure to bring in char
acter, to leave behind 1t a file of heroes; IL
not heroes, then villains, but in any case
strong men. On the 9th of April, 1861, three
days before Sumter was bombarded, he
had spoken with equanimity of the down.
fall of our character-destroying civilization.
" We find that civilization crowed too
soon. that our triumphs were treacheries;
we had opened the wrong door and let the
enemy into the CASTLE 'Ah,' he said,
when the firing began, sometimes gum
powder smells good Soon after the attack
on Sumter he said in a public address: We
have been very homeless for some years
past, say since 1850; but now we have a
country again. . y . The war was an
eye-opener, and showed men of all parties
and opinions the value of those primary
forces that lie beneath all political action
And it was almost a personal pledge when
he said, at the Harvard commemoration in
1866, we shall not again disparage Amer
lea, now that we have seen what men it
will bear"
OF Emerson's poetical methods Mr.. Chap
man says: "Eamerson's passion for nature
was not like the passion Of Keats or Of
Burns, of Coleridge or Of Robert Brown
ing; compared with these men he is cold.
His temperature is below blood heat, and
his volume of poems stands on the shelf of
English poets like the Icy fish which in
Caliban upon Setebos is described as find
ing himself thrust into the warm ooze of
an ocean not his own. But Emerson is a
poet, nevertheless, a very extraordinary
and rare man of genius, whose verses carry
a world of their own within them. They
are overshadoWed by the greatness of his
prose, but they are authentic. he Is the
chief poet of that school of which Emily
Dickinson is a minor poet. His poetry is a
successful spiritual deliverance OF great in
tereSt."
The other essays in the volume have for
of Romeo" Michael Angeles Sonnets.3
The Fourth Canto of the Inferno Rob |
ert Browning and Robert Louis Steven
son." Like the study of Emerson, his essay
on Browning shows a keen and critical in
sight Both essays are illuminative, and
will be found of especial value to students.
The other essays in the volume make equal |
ly good reading. Walt Whitman" he says, |
has given utterance to the soul of a
tramp. Our inability to place the
man intellectually and find a type and rea-
son for his intellectual state comes from
this: that the revolt he represents is not
anNntellectual revolt. Ideas are not at the
bottom of it. 1t is a revolt from drudgery.
1t is the revolt from laziness."
Or1I1CaA Stuuy Oh AnurleS D1ckenbs
More than a quarter of a century has
now elapsed since the death of Charles
Dickens. The time which shaped and de-
veloped him is so far behind us as to have
become a matter of historical study for the
present generation. The time which knew
him as one of it's foremost figures and owed
so much to his wondrous personality is al
ready made remote by a social revolution
Of which he watched tho mora haoiDninu |
He is no longer a figure in contemporary
literature, and it seems possible to regard |
him from the standpoint of posterity, to
consider his career, to review his literary
work and to estimate his total activity in
relation to an age which, intelligibly speak
ing, Is no longer our own. This Is the aim
of Charles Dickens, a Critical Study" by |
George Gissing, and the work is done in a
very interesting way. To begin with, the
present author shows that complete and
close sympathy with his subject which ev-
cry critical writer should possess. He loves
and admires Dickens, and therefore under
stands and can interpret him. To this quail
~iication he adds evidently profound study
and thorough acquaintance with Dickens's
writings, thus enabling him to take broad
as we'll as detailed views of them. With
this equipment and a naturally critical gift, |
he has produced a work that is interesting
from a literary point OF view and instructive
in the knowledge it conveys concerning one
Of the great masters of English fiction. The
work consists of twelve chapters, the titles
of which indicate its scope and line of
treatment. These are: "Dickens's Times |
1.-The Growth of Man and WRITER THE
Story Teller His Art, Veracity and Moral
Purpose" His Characterization ''Satiric
Portraiture;;' His Women and Children"
"Humor and Pathos;;' 'Style;'' Compare
sons;'' His Latter Years" These heads
cover pretty much all the interesting fea-
lures of Dickens's works, and in portraying
them the author also conveys much infor-
nation concerning his personal character
and life. We learn much of Dickens's self
education, of the books he read when young, |
of his early trials, failures and successes,
and of the various stages and degrees by
which, from a Woodworking reporter, he |
became a worldwide famous author. Mr.. |
Gissing is an honest as well as intelligent /
critic, for he does not by any means lind
all of Dickens's works equally great, nor |
Dickens himself equally successful in every
line of work Briefly, 1t may be said he |
considers Dickens weak in the construction
or plots Of his stories, and strongest In
Characterization and the expression of |
moral qualities and emotions, and especially |
of humor and pathos. The chapter on Dick
anGsaF afy10 10 a dna Gnaaipnan Of Hfararr, |