The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-10-18
The Physiology Of Fiction.


Those who are in the habit of read
ing proof know, to their sorrow, how
very easy it is for the eye to slip over
mistake. Really, when one comes to
think of it, this is what the eye is con-
stantly doing. AS a matter Of fact, be-
cause Of this ocular laziness it is only
what is very evident or very unusual
that succeeds in attracting attention at
all. This is certainly true of many of
the words and phrases that we read
each day and that come to serve
finally as mere symbols. There is hard
ly page Of a novel that is not full of
such formulas. OF course, as a general
thing, the better the novel the fewer
there are of such short cuts, but even
in some of the best there are great
many. And this nomenclature that fic-
ton has gradually built up and uses to
express and explain the emotions is
very strange and interesting. The
terms are almost as fixed as the terms
Of science and by degrees have come
into everyday use and are employed
almost unconsciously. A particular
text book is needed in fully under
standing the wonderful processes Of
the fictional body under emotional
strain. The heart is the organ that has
the greatest number Of strange things
happen to it, and the manner in which
it is compressed and expanded, is
pierced and torn and riven, is very
strange, while the eyes come next in
the marvels Of their actions, burning
and whitening and melting and famish-
ing and drinking, though there is hard
ly limb or member that has not an
established way Of conducting itself
under given conditions.
This is great convenience for the
indOlent writer of romance. He has
only to note the phrase, and the reader
does the rest. The terms are quite as
evident as any finger board, and one
knows at once whether to keep off the
grass" or go ''this way to the animals"
There is no uncertainty, and what is to
be felt is known at once, for, indeed,
If anything, there is more thinking in
formulas than in writing, and men
would rather employ the expressions
to which they are accustomed, looking
at any one using any others a little
askance, as they might at some parcel
Of explosives which they are afraid
may Ego off,"
But if the Technology of the novel is
strange one this is really in a manner
justified, for there is hardly one of the
terms, whatever science may say, that
has not in manner been proved to be
in a measure true in practice, for per-
haps the greatest surprise Of all comes
when afterward chance is given for
consideration and one finds that in
some crisis one has behaved very much
like the people in the story books and
felt like them. The bosom has swelled
with pride or felt as if it had; a weight
has been lifted from the breast, and,
alas, how often, in fact, has the heart
sunk within and darkness filled the
soul! Joy is common, and sorrow is
common, and the ways in which they
manifest themselves are as hackneyed
as the phrases that have been used to
describe them. Indeed, one of the les
sons that we are constantly taught,
very much to our surprise, is the mean
ing Of these conventional expressions
and the deep significance underlying
these we'll worn terms.
| GEORGE HIBBARD.