The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-06-26
SOME NEW BOOKS.
ne New LASkooa.

Tho establishment Of a valid Oanon Of
taste Is a dlffiuilt task. especially when Il
involves the destruction o. canon which
has become a fetch but which was never
adeQuAts 10 the burden imposed upon Il.
Keen Analysis and acquaintance with the
history of the arts and letters of many
aRas and lands combined with unusual
powers of accurate expression ard 4
trenchant Nit are the qualities displayed
hy Prof IRyINO BABBTrT Of Harvard In hls
TAa Neg LGokoon (Houghton Mihiin Com
uanyl. An Essay on the Confusion OF
he Arts' Is the subtitle Of this little vo-
uune. which deserves careful study. Prof.
Rabbitt says in his preface that the title
sKpressss his sense Of what needs doing
rathar than what be would claim TO have
done. Our opinion IS that the author has
done his worN well
Because Of the lack OF an adequate criti-
cal Vocabulary In English Prof. hahoitt
"a compelled 10 make U.S. Of the word
genre. which - getting fairly current IN
EnRlish. and az the expressions -meiange
des genres and genre tranchS, which
are not current That the -mixtura
Of styles. as We may roughly render
the former expression. around which
with allied topics Prof. Babhitts argu-
ment receives, produces an artistic syl-
lahub il in brief lis thesis. and that
toe. genre tranche which he some
tirnes calls the clear Cut style, 10 the
Eoal % be aimed az always and especially
in the present condition Of the arts. IL
his gospel Leasing published his Ia
osoon" in 166. almost at the end Of the
neo-classi1al movement Immediately
Afssrvard arose the great romantic and
nhturahstc movement which filed the
whole nineteenth century ana is now
in it, .uru snow ing signs Of decrepitude.
The query vhich our author nropounds
H Does We 'Laokoon' really acct the
questions that have arisen in this period
81 one hundred and hfty years as to the
proper boundaries Of the arts. especially
the boundaries of painting and writingf'
Most Germans who conventionally accept
LssSin. ~ one Of their great classics
wenld probably say that n does In his
opinion the -Iaokoon' either does not
cover the ground ~ completely az Ia
assumed or else no teaching has ever
been ~ wilfully disregarded. The nine
tenth century witnessed. he says. the
greatest dehauch Of descriptive writ
ing the world has ever seen. a general
confusion ~ the arts and Of the different
genes within the confines of each art
For example there we're ROssetti's at
tempts n paint hrs sonnets and write
his pictures and MallaTmes ambition
10 compose symphonies with words.
What he has attempted accordingly IL 20
study the -i.aokoon- not primarily a. a
German classic but NJ a problem in COM
parative literature; 20 show that the con-
fusion with which Leasing 10 dealing
10 a pseudo-classioal confusion. and then
in contrast To this pssudo-classical con-
fusion he has traced in writers like Rous-
ssau and Diderot the beginnings Of an
entirely different confusion Of the arts
a romantic confusion. which Leasing did
not meet in the -Laokoon' and did not try
b meet He has searched for principles
that NAV he opposed 20 the modern con-
fusion. particularly the attempts Of the
ninetsenth century 10 make words do
the work n music and painting Les
sing in making his protest against the
confusion Of poetry and painting. dis
eliminated sharply between what he
conceived 20 be the truly clsssic and the
pss'Ido-clasaic: but he who protests
to-day must discriminate between the
truly classic and the romantic. and most
important il a careful defining Of such
words as classic. pseudo-clAssic' and
romantic Then too people must see
the romantic and naturalistic move
ment from the outside. for with the
spread Of impressionism literature has
last standards and discipline and at
the same time virility and seriousness
II has fallen into the hands of Rsthetes
and dilettantss. the last efets repre-
sentatiyes % romanticism. who have
proved utterly unequal tn the task Of
maintaining its great traditions against
the scientific pOsitiyisiE While warn
ing the reader that much Of what he has
30 say in the present book is a develop
meat u what he has already said In his
work on Literature and the American
College, ne also expresses the hope that
he may sometime develop many II these
views on The romantic movement In a
volume ~ he called Rousseau and
Romlnticis-1.