The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-04

in America. Where the English Purital
rested content with observing the form
of religion the American Puritan wa
digging into the reasons of things Para
doxical as it may seem. it was the logical
questioning spirit of Jonathan Edwards
awakening the reasoning powers of hi'
fellow countrymen. which made possible
such a novel as DR.. Holmes Elsie Ven
ner'' hundred and twenty-five year.
| later
Elsie Venner" may alss rank IS al
| epoch making book Though it is not {
| great novel. it is an extremely significsn
| one. In 1t the author takes character
such as would have been represented by
the purely imaginative writer as unhu-
| man, demoniac, unreal. and. purposely
making his case as strong as it can be
made. shows clearly how, in this human
creature. impulses which are. as he says
| at right angles With the natural good
| tendencies of human nature are inevita-
| bic. Whereas Hester Prynne is the nor
NAL sinner, Elsie is the abnormal one.
| The first is a fine character warped by
| circumstances; the second an incurable
| degenerate The villain in the novel OF
Dr. Holmes is Elsie's cousin Dick; and
| even here the author has been at some
pains to show the reasons and causes OF
his villainy. He is far from being such
creature of pure evil as Poe, for ex-
ample, would have painted. In the de-
velopment Of this type of character Poe
must be considered as belonging to that
group of ina ginative writers whose forte
is dealing with the pure idea, not with the
actual human being
Thus We see that the villains humanity
was, in American fiction, rapidly gaining
on his demoniac qualities. In this con-
nection Mrs Stoves Uncle Toms Cabin
demands mention, from the fact that it
was, undoubtedly, one of the formative
forces Of its time. in both literature and
politics. At the time of its publication
novels were not plenty in America, and
it was so universally read that it of ne
cessity helped to influence the general
literary taste. One who reads this book
carefully will see that in the authors
mind the two great villains. Legree and
Haley. were not so much essential
scoundrels as men who had had all their
bad, coarse and cruel tendencies brought
out and favored by the influence of bad
system. Neither of them is an exaggera-
ton of the facts; neither of them is in
the least incomprehensible; and It may
be worthy of note that here we find evil
dsnce of another American tendency in
fiction-the inclination to represent vice
as stupid. Neither Haley or Legree pos
both are fooled with comparative ease,
and in perfectly natural way.
The war undoubtedly had a strong in
fiuence on the literary taste of the coun-
try. as well as on it's politics. 1t was
found that it was possible for men to
believe they were right. and to be good
and honest while fighting on opposite
sides. That is a conviction which has
never thoroughly gotten hold of the Eng
lish people; and when 1t dawned upon
the American brain It set in motion the
ola forces of doubt, enquiry. tolerance,
and truth-seeking In this unsettled state
of the popular imagination there could be
no great novels. Such novels are posi-
BILE only in a more or less permanent
state of society. Hence, during the early
seventies, we find light literature running
riot, and fiction writer's dealing more
with surface social problems than with
deep ethical questions. At about this
time rose Howells, with his penchant for
the shades of difference in Amer
lean society; and the first half dozen of
his novels are purely studies of the caste
system in a country which is not supposed
to have any. Two ma gaines, "Harper's''
and the old ''Scribner's," furnished the
fiction for the country; and the former
ma gazine took large share of it's novels
from English writer's. .as it had always
done ''Scribners,' then, must be con-
sidered as the romance mill for the Amer
lean people in the seventies.
There were two novels among its serials |
during those years which, though neither
Of them is great in any possible sense ofthe |
word, are interesting in connection with
this discussion of the villain in American !
literature. Both were written by the |
editor of the magazine, J. G. Holland, and |
both are remarkable for one thing; the |
perfection, the absolute realism, of the |
villain in each 1t is little curious that |
from a moral point of view !
as Holland should have created two wick |
ed men who are the only characters worth |
mentioning in his whole series of novels; /
but that is the truth. One of these is !
Robert Beicher. in The Story of Seven
oaks" The other is Benjamin Benson, in !
Nicholas Minturn." 1t is impossible to /
the hero of either of these tales; |
one is a weak man, and the other an |
in them are not only superbly |
done; they are peculiarly American, and !
present with unerriDg fidelity two of the |
dangerous types Of character in this coun- |
try Moreover they were both new in |
fiction at the time of their creation
Belcher is the self-made man who is |
also a rogue. He owns, DULLES. and de- 1
the town of Sevenoaks. the lit |
lie village which owes its prosperity and |
most of it's misfortunes to him. He has
stolen the patents OF inventions which
have made him rich he is coarse, conceit-
ed. and villainous in every fibre. He goes
10 New York, and essays to conquer that
town with his money. as local dignitaries
nave done since that city became a metro
polls; and he meets his downfall just as
some. not all, of them have met theirs,
through the rottenness of his methods.
Benson is a rascal of different type. He
IS the hypocrite. He is not Pecksniff;
ne is not ELUSIVE enough for that. He is
simply the just man, the man who is