St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-10-08
MODERN FICTION
Subject of DR.. TuPPer's Lecture Be-
fore The WOman's Club-MOre
Lectures Coming.

Ideal fall weather and a most at
tractive program made the October
meeting of the Woman's Club, like
the September one, one of the larg
est of the year. The speaker of the
day was DR.. Frederic Tupper of the
the University of Vermont who spoke
on "Phases of Modern Fiction" He
was introduced by the chairman Of
the history and literature committee,
Mrs. Susan H. Smith, and his lecture,
which began at 2.3O to accomo-
date the speaker, was listened to
with closest attention.
He said that it was as recently as
IT years ago that the first courses
on the novel we're given in an Ameri-
can university. Before that the novel
was not recognized as literature to
the extent it now is. He questioned
the popular tests of fiction, the most
pernicious of which is the happy
ending test. The other tests are the
triumph of virtue, the elegant hero
and the typical villain, and the de-
mand for adventure. The protest
against the happy ending has gone so
far that the happy beginning is its
outcome Charlotte Bronte was the
first writer to put an end to the de-
mand for a beautiful heroine and
elegant hero while Jane Austen
changed the conception of the viii
lain. 1t was Jane Austen, too who
showed that a life, without a tinge
of adventure may be made interest
ing.
All that is demanded of the novel
is that it be a correct presentation of
life. There are four stages of the
novel, the impossible, the improb-
able, the probable and the inevitable.
The aim of fiction is to please, new
er to instruct The only test of char
acters is that they be speaking, liv-
ing, moving human folk. The meth
ods of portraying character are three,
by idealization, by caricature and by
stern realism. The plot may be de-
veloped in three ways, in the first
person, in the third person or by
letter.
Other features of the novel are
the background and the style. Now
that men have come to recognize
that we are all the result of environ
ment and heredity, it has come
about that the background of the
novel sometimes overshadows every
is often of the greatest aid in making
the point he desires to make. At
the close of DR.. Tupper's speech, the
club showed their appreciation by
standing.
Lecture by Miss Crawford
After two vocal numbers by Mrs.
Ida P Brooks, the business of the
afternoon which had been postponed
until after the program, was taken
up. Mrs. Ellen F. Brooks an
nounced the lecture by Miss Caroline
S. Crawford, formerly dean for wom-
en- at Middlebury College, which is
to be given October 28, under the di-
rection of the education committee. |
Her subject will be "The Woman's
Club as the Guardian of Social Life"
Mrs Mary E. Mackinnon spoke of
the necessary postponement Of the
Burns lecture and announced that |
the music committee has arranged |
for a chorus which Mrs. Maud Eklof |
Bailey will lead. Mrs. F. S. Tolman |
chairman of the social science COM
mittee, spoke of the speaker for the |
November meeting, Mrs. E. M. Whit |
temore of New York, who comes to |
the club with the highest recommen- |
dations.
Mrs. Robert French called atten-
tion to the Better Babies contest and |
after a short speech by DR.. Alice E. |
Wakefield and remarks by other club |
women $40 was voted to the work of |
the Vermont Teachers Retirement |
Fund association.
The social committee served tea |
and waters after the meeting.
How much wOu1d this issue of this |