The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-03-10
Comparing Stevenson,
George Eliot and Kiplins.

AS In the case Of America, 80 in that Of
England. 1 cannot enter into the merits
or living novelists in so wide a task thing
as the brief review Of q century. Mr..
Meredith. as a veteran of the sixties. has
shown. perhaps. fully what is the nature
Of his achievement; he shines as a creator
Of character the highest praise), and as a
writer with a thoroughly original view of
the world, as a poet and as a wit. That
his manner is entirely fortunate, and not
rather tinsed with willful eccentricities like
those OF Browning and Carlyle, can scarce
~ be disputed. An accomplished young
novelist has admitted to me that his man.
ner Is Catching" and that he has to strug-
gle against half conscious efforts at im!ta-
ton. Others do not struggle. and most grow
older. before they are able to write like
themselves, with their own voices. Even
Mr.. Stevenson was caught now and then,
his own voice being original. indeed. but
yet full Of memories of the Seventeenth and
Eighteenth centuries. and even of the
Cameronian writers. To my mind Mr.. Ste
venson was the greatest. or. at least, the
most enjoyable. of our novelists since
George Eliot. excelling in matter and form.
though. probably. always prevented by
thwarting circumstances from doing him
self complete Justice. He practically re-
vived In England the novel historical, now
30 abundantly practiced, and practiced with
PNAA - AAAs AoAAAS q Ahls al
thony Hope. Doctor Conan Doyle. Mr.. A.
E. W. Mason and a regiment OF followers.
The novel scientific. as in the hands of
Mr.. Wells. and the novel Of adventure be
yond the bound of known romanticism."
as In Mr.. Rider Haggard's works. with the
detective novel and the Oriental and i'm
perialistic romances of Mr.. Kipling. prove
that man will not be satisfied with domestic
realism alone. I never thought he would!
Mr.. Kipling's astonishing powers Of vision.
his habit Of ruthlessly cutting the SUPER
fuous and his amazing command Of tech
nicalities. help to account for his world
wide fame. But the greatest of these Is
vision, not an acquired result Of thought.
but a gift of heaven. The age has also pro-
duced a wealth of novels with a purpose.
Would that the authors could be induced
to state their purposes squarely. in undec-
orative treatises! But I confess that the
t~reatises would not be read. Tho specialism
Of modern science has also invaded fiction.
and some authors find a county or a par
ish wide enough for the work Of a lifetime.
The district has its dialect, and who can
reprove 1t when spoken by the creatures
of Mr.. Barrie. and Mr.. Crockett? This kind
of fiction Is the result Of our desire to learn
Through novels about the lives Of all sorts
and conditions of men. Enfin. the whole
scope of mortal existence is now the far
raso libelli OF the novelists, who range
from prehistoric man to Bethnal Green;
from Thrums to Central Africa. There is
not the same eagerness to read history.
which James II regarded as more in
structive, and quite as amusing" Ny
heart is here with King James. and I con-
Tess to gaining more entertainment from
Carlyle's Frederick the Great than from
most novels.
The early historians, from Scott to Car
lyle. Macaulay and Froude, placed the
human interest in the first rank. They
conceived that history had to do with
human beings of passions, caprices. moods.
loves and hates. dwelling in a world Of
interesting costumes. arms. architecture, |
Ideas and beliefs. Thus Carlyle, with much
created his Cromwell or his Fred |
erick. as Scott created his Queen Mary, |
his Louis XII, his James VI. or his Crom- |
well In Woodstock" who Is not too re-
mote from Carlyle's. For these reasons |
Scott, Froude. Carlyle and Macaulay really |
Gre amusing" as well as instructive his |
torians. When institutions and constitu-
tons had to be described they were placed
in separate compartments. as in the works
Of Hallam and Bishop Stubs. Historians
MSS, Of course. but 1t was not
held tina only the imprinted was the val
that a new survey Of known matter
was absolutely %valueless.