The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1909-11-07
AMERICAN PROSE MASTERS.
4 Fnir Estimate of six Leading
Native Authors by W. {. BrOwneI.

AMERICAN PhOSE MASTERS.
Fair Estimate of six Leading
Native Authors by W. c. Browneu.
In Mr.. Brownclrs category Of Amerl-
can Prose Writers. he puts just exactly
six: Cooper. Hawthorne. Emerson. Poe,
Lowell. and Henry James. and proceeds
20 give a just and unbiased estimate OF
each I'm a manner that makes pleasant
and instructive reading. The group of
half dozen may strike one at first as
meaEer, but nature consideration viii
prove tho justice and the truth Of what
Mr. BrowneI has to say. and absolve
him absolutely from charge Of prejudice
or favoritism.
or Cooper he begins with an apology
in his very first sentence. when he
states: THE literary standard OF his
countrymen is undoubtedly far higher
than IT wos I'm COoper's own day" There
are many, indeed, Of the present genera
tion who find tho works Of J. Fenimore
Cooper cramped in style and even trivial
but there Is 10 denial of the fact that
Cooper had his day and that il stamped
him az a genius for all time. Mr. Brown
ellis statement that Cooper was a born
story-teIier first Of all cannot be denied
lie places him unhestatingly with Scott
Dumas. and George Sand. and says: Ito
he one OF the great romancers Of the
world Is, I'M itself. a distinction. But there
IS more than one kind of romance. and
COopers has the additional interest Of
reality. 10 is based ON a very solid sub
stance. Cooper's genius was a rehec-
tive one"
Hawthorne AIr- BroWneH states. bears
q reputation which Is based on none
tary popularity. Mirage ig his specific
aim. the explicit goal OF his art-which
thus becomes inevitable rather artistry
than art His subject Is always
something other than it's substance.
Everything means something else.
Ills meaning is a burden OF the story,
not the automatic moral complement OF
its vivid and actual reality. Hence the
sense OF reality is absent from g. and
for this nothing viii atone iu any form
of art where the sense Of unreality IS not
sought instead He ends by summing
up Hawthorne thus: Hawthorne should
have taken himself more seriously at the
oUtset-in his formative pcriOd-and less
80 In the maturity OF powers whose devel-
opment would have produced far more
important results than those achieved by
their leisurely exercise I'm tranquil neglect
or their evolution"
or Emerson. The perspective OF time
doubtless for the most part in substantial
alliance with equity. diunishes many i'm
posing literary figures but il has already
enlarged EmcrsOn's. His fame grows.
More and more generally and more and
more distinctly it is discerned as our an
swer to the literary challenge OF the
mo IS fr Of
Plato and Pascal. OF Shakespeare and
Goetle. cmulating easily their cosmic in
clusiveucss. And he is ours-absolutely
and altogether our own"
Mr. Browncu measures the distinction
Of the genius OF Edgar Allan Poe by ask
ing the reader 20 try TO imagine Ameri-
can literature without him. He was
entirely individual" he AYERS. the entire
character OF his mind and nature Is
acutely. almost painfully. certainly per-
yersely, personal. but his originality APP
pears chiefly in relief against the back
ground OF his environment He
passed his life I'm kicking against the
Tricks and produced his literature in the
process. Inevitably the false. the ugly
and the wrong attracted him. since the
established standard is Of the good. the
beautiful and the true. He could
not conceive the normal save as the com
mOn-place for which he had apparently
the horror he would have liked to In
spire In others by the presentation Of the
eccentric. Dread Of the commonplace
Is fatal TO the sublime. And there IS as
suredly no sublimlty IN Poe"
Lowell. as a lecturer Mr. BrowneT con-
ceives as a 'Jaunty jeremiah" zone
could not feel" he adds, that the coun-
try Of which he was a genuine product
could be I'm a HOPELESS state" This esti-
mate was gained from the authors hav-
ing heard LowelTs lecture. "The indie
pendent IN Politics" His popularity I'm
England was due TO the gift of speech
His literary merit, his personal charm
and tact I'm more intimate intercourse
probably counted for less, says Mr. Brow
nell IN substance. THE fundamental
quality OF his mind is rs practical and
conservative as its lighter moods are
playful. 1t seems 10 have no advcntur-
Gus or inteT0gative side and irrespon-
sible as are many OF its expressions, but
they are but the sparkle and ripple on n
very staidly flowing current. Even his
Responsibilities and looseness, his super
latives and sweeping statements are due
70 limitation. rather than to enterprise OF
thought. one can hardly place him I'm
the same environment with Emerson. &"
10 a toast. or consecrate q festival, or
cap an epigranl, and each in ideal fashion,
he was habitually prepared. He
was always extraordinarily ready >
He VIII doubtless cease to he one OF
our supersttions. hut ne will always re-
main one OF our chief glories."
The career OF Eenry James Mr.. Brow
nell praises as having scrupulously fol-
lowed an ideal He never leaves the i'm
preston Of supCrhciality. His material,
even his result. may be slight as his own
persistent predeterminatlon can make a.;
Il is impossible not TO feel that it is the
work OF an artist who is not only serious.
but profound Behind his sketch you
feel the careful and elaborate prelim-
mary study; back Of his trlviality you
feel the man OF reflection. II IS part OF
Mi James distraction that ne gives us
so much as 10 make VIZ wish for more,