New-York tribune., 1908-03-21
THE ORIENTAL TALE.
4 Neglected Granny an English
Literature.

TAI fE1GHTEESTH GIfTTF:5STH Century: By Martha Pike
| Conant- 12mO, PIP. BE- The Macmillan COM
pany-
The passionate reader of Eastern tales is
familiar with the entrancing account given by
Avicena the sage, Of the vast cavern under
meath a mountain towards the Caspian Sea
wherein the wise Chez Cheha beddin philosopher
and magician. had gathered together twenty
thousand books full of lore-a magnificent Ii
brarv protected against the ravages OF men
and time by q talisnan which caused the doors
Of the cavern to open once year or thelr own
accord and to shut again after forty-fve min
utes And" Quoth the wise Avicena, II any
bookish man, too intent upon his choice OF
authors tarry heedlessly, he is to be
starved to DEATH The aforesaid passionate
reader Of Eastern tales, being keeniy sensitive
to aIIegory will recognize in this quaint and
lovely anecdote the symbolic picture OF the
library 70 which Miss Conant leads him in her
original and unique study in Comparative Lit
e-ature The shelves of eighteenth century
Oriental tales in English are truly hidden from
the world under the towering, rugged noun
tain of novels and essays, purely Occidental in
theme form ard treatment. Indeed only the
sb-ewdest eve or one aided by magic crystal
would eyer suspect that the yarns, satires and
y7oralizing essays into which fragments from
bevond Suez have been woven constitute a dis
tinct class within English Literature and can
he logically stacked together beneath the noun
1a1n's live rock But the student holding the
..r5sr,ar Of Comparative Literature rubs the
larnn wherein midnight oil is burned and 10.
+be doors of the cavern swing open admitting
Us for forty-ffve minutes 10 tnunD through
strange and forgotten volumes
Miss CoDant includes under the oriental lale
IN England" ali fiction showing Orientalizing
S11ch a
-. justified bv the aspirations Of Comparative
Literature but II turns the reader loose 10
browse over too wide pastures full OF very snort
grass We find mentioned thousand ana one
skits and scraps whose sole claim TO notice Is III
,he acrid buraor of Goldsmith, their true East
ero stvle where nothing is required but SUP
un,ity" The same charming writer. in his too
Ii-rle read Citizen of the World describes
eatfrtcallv this style which sufices to earn its
author q place in Miss Conant's cave library:
r have written many a sheet Of Eastern tale my
se1f and | defy the severest critic 10 say
but that ! have stuck close 10 the true manner 1
mountains of Bonek: soldiers sword 70 G.ta the
ei2uG9 ss .ntioned compare them the nocks that
eraze the verdant Tennis: If poverty, 70 the mists
Thee thou upon all occasions aase 6e e
serbed fallen stars ana bo MAXI pretfv g
iIre i'm every description Every advance
Raqe Faeter1 tales should always be sonorous lofty
musical and unLleahIiis-
The scope of this category leads the investi-
Gator far beyond books like The Persian Tales.
..-rbe Citizen of the World THE Turkish Spy"
..C-haroba" and William Beckford's masterpiece
~ terror "vathek." Miss Conant revives count
loss tones which. by her own testimony are not
r,.e-ature but mere printed matter Her deeper
,nterest is without question. centred IN the
psychological history Of Englshmen, as reflected
in their tastes: and her study serves the same
general purpose and has the same sort OF value
which a monograph on the DiIne No'ei u ihe
Nineteenth Century might nave MISS Noiia"'
discovers that Ito certain extent the vogue OF
80 sales WAS another EXPRESSION Of the ten