Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-05-01

Mr. Browncll's essay on Henry james
in The Atlantic is so closely written
that it is difficult to give an idea of
its excellence by making brief QUOTA
ti"ns. The penetrating and some
times delicatcly ironical sayings which
~" scattered through it might lose
something of their effect and leave an
impression unfair to both critic and
author if they were to be detached
from the context. But there is one
passage. bringing the essay to Il close.
which loses nothing if taken by itself.
Says Mr.. Erowncll:
Are the masterpieces of the future to
I've written in this fashion? If they
are. they will differ Signally from the
masterpieces Of the past in the Substi-
tuition of Il highly idOSyncratic man.
ncr for tn" hitherto essential element
"f style: and in consequence they will
require Il second reading. not. as here
tofor". for the discovery of new
~autrs. or the savoring again of old
ones. but to hc understood at all. In
which ,ds" one may surmisc. they will
have t" he very we'll worth while. 1t
can hardly he hoped that they will b"
As well worth while as those of Mr..
James
Are Mr.. .Jamcs's masterpieces really
Very wei worth while? That is the
one question to which Mr.. Browncll
somehow fails To return Il conclusive
answer. He treats them with the fin
est impartialitN. stating their merits
as randid!y as he states their lmita-
tions. Rut he does not dispose of the
doubt. entertained by many of Mr..
Jamcss frendiest critics. as to whcth-
or the limitations do not inValidatc the
Merits. 70 be clever is undoubtedly Il
great thing. But to be clever in mid
air, rs it were: to leave your reader
feeling. when he has laborcd loyalty
through your tremendously artistic
pages, that he has got no forrarder. is
10 court disaster. 1t is like Turing a
NAH into the desert, getting him abb
sorbed i'll its beauty. and then leaving
MIN stranded in it's most arid depths.
The vogue Of Mr.. James is. like his
art. \ curious phenomenon. He is the
OBJECT of Il cult and for an eNtraOrdi-
nary number of otherwise very shrewt
individuals there seems to be some
th,nS talislnanic about Il circumstance
o' IN" sort. 1t is explained. in a
measure, by the fact that 1t is q very
feeble cul, which cannot draw one or
Two authoritative oracles into its SER
Wee. and their diCta gu far toward per-
sni'in4 tho rank and file that the au-
'h"r they have placed upon pedestal
really deserves the incense burned i'll
Ills h"nor. Thcnccforth they have
nothing Ia say to the critic who. like
M Br"wnell. refuse to enter the
charmed circle of worshippers. but
turns the idol inside cut with the de-
t'chmcnt, tempered by perfect cour-
'rSy. of a ruthless scientist. We fear
mat the true secret of the tenacity
sho"n in so many cults lies in moth
,hS more than ordinary, everyday VAN
NY. 1t is sweet to go about with an
lhier sense of intellectual superiority
20 leel that only to you and to>a few
o'hers has it been given to grasp the
suite significance of James, a .Pater
fiaubert. Some of us go on play
h's With these cherished dolls of the
.'"hu until we die. Some of lis learn
~ .'ine to let the sawdust out of them
""c I" bury the remains decently and
III oraer But ii is not surgery tina,