The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-02-01
Some FauItHndinE with william ID
HOWeIIs.


AR Howens is 10 me. next to Hawthorne
the prince OF American nOveIists. This may
not be in accord with popular opinion
nevertheless I delight above all things
fictitious TO read his realism. Silas Lapham
and his girls. Barley Hubbard and his WIFE
Marsh and his comrades in The Hazard Of
New Fortunes" and JEFF in THE Landlord
OF LIONS Head" are. to me. all fascinating
characters because they belong TO that
commonplace life which is my case and
lot ''siniIia similibus cUrantur."
All his pictures of life and its surround
ings are wonderfully perfect. 1 doubt if
ever the recent and present cold weather
has been as we'll described as Il
is in the opening chapters of "a
Modern Instance" where the viii
lage Of Equity is painted as in
the dead of winter and under sixteen inches
of snow. Reading Howells's books carries
me back to the far off days of my youth
and brings to my lips Thackeray's little
verse.
do. ra, IA. so. la. Sc. do
That my hand is out OF practice.
And my poor fiddle cracked is;
And mani let the truth out
Cannot sing as once he sang
When he young and lutes strung
And love lamps in the easement hung
While Mr.. Howeils is easily the premier
of our living literary American authors
yet he occasionally makes a very bad and
mistaken estimate of a great book Such
a mistake is now before me. 1t is his judg-
ment upon Hawthornes House of the
Seven Gables" So as to be entirely fair,
give all he says upon this subject, copying
from Volume /, "HeTOines OF Fiction" Page
1e3. THE House OF the Seven Cables" This
last. indeed" says Mr.. Howells: II have
found nearly tiresome as II could find
anything OF Hawthorne's. I do not think
1t is censuring it uniustly to say that it
seems the expansion Of short-story mo-
tive to the dimensions of a novel; and the
slight narrative in which the concept is
nursed with whimsical pathos to the limp
end, appears sometimes to faiter and alarms
the sympathetic reader at otner times with
the fear Of an absolute lapse. The char
acters all lack the vitality which the au-
thor gives the people of his other books.
The notion of the hapless Clifford Pincheon,
who was nurtured for happiness and beau
~. but was fated to such hard and ugly
doom. Is perhaps too single for the realiza-
ton Of a complete personality. and poor old
Hepzibah. his sister, Is of scarcely more
sufficient material. They move dim for
Torn wraiths before the fancy, and they
bring only such proofs of their reality as
BlOSlS seen Dy others can supply. Inc
careful elaboration with which they are
studied seems only to render them more
doubtful. and there is not much In the
pretty. fresh-hearted little Phoebe Pynch-
con, or her lover, Holgrave, with all his
generous rebellion against the obsession of
the present by the past. to render the CEN
tral figures convincing. Hawthorne could
not help giving form to his work, but as
nearly as any work Of his could be so, The
House of the Seven Gables is struggling
There is. at any rate. no great womanly
presence to pull ii powerfully together, and
hold IL In the beautiful unity characteristic
Of The Blythedale Romance and The
Scarlet Letter. What solidarity il has is
in the simple Salem circumstance of the
story, where the antique Puritanic atmos-
phere merges with the modern air In a COM
plexion Of perennial provinciality."
Let US dwell upon this criticism a little
1.-The characters all lack the vitality which
the author gives the people of his other
books" In this ALI is included Judge
Pincheon, Uncle Venner, Jim Higgins. and
the rest of the outfit. In my Judgment,
Judge Pincheon is one of the most master
full sketches Of character ever written by
Hawthorne or any other great author.
Ii is that of a greedy. self-seeking.. pomp-
Gus, prosperous, well-placed old hypocrite.