New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-09

aa."s Aa.A tNtfr ".. .'.N
ard cvr.ching ia. William CraT-- Brown
oil WAS the orc man 90 write the crit
ic's creed contained In this slender
a~iis,!cally printed volume. Dealing
,-;tr ,Io eternal vcritieS. with the fun
de~enta's Of the art, IL yet is OF TINS
rcu-. which doubts criticism and as
-....res e. coufoundiuE % with the
,ov.,,,,ug that is so bu,lly performing
"a Ter Different preliminary function OF
e. ONT among Che new books Of wees
:-c rictures and sculpture Of season
evh bit;on. che plays Of nrst nlgh'.
D.. Is rot the reviewer mission 10
Zeal v-..h masterpieces. n only Tor the
Obvious reason that thoy rarely come
vth;u his range % observation. His
g.. tho humber but none the less reSpon-
siblc task of sitting what dr HoweI.s
one OF Nr. Browncl'S fellow crafts
mon mas SO c'evcrly called the annual
rubbish fall" in the world Of the arts.
Criticism IS laugu,sh.nC for lack Of
new ant 10 challenge its quality ITS
culture. 'ts knowledge. its experience
above all. fits understanding IN iact'
our Young irtelliCcn-ia. so busly en-
-ared i'm reforming the world and all
tla. g.. contains. is inpatient of the
criticism which l.nhs the past to the
3r,scnt. which. following tradition. yet
ieaas J. into newer realms. proving ITS
continuity where on the surface there
;e radical new departure the criticism
watch knows our heritage Of culture.
lu- young men have broken with the
ms, +. matters esthetic as we'll as
social End economic. They ignore it
in both senses of the word: Why carry
alone ;lc Aeshpots while marching out
If Egypt?
ellis volume are rich i'm Illuminating
passages:
Criticism may not De inaptly
described as the statement OF the
concrete i'm forms Of the abstract.
= is its function TO discern ano
characterize the abstract qualities
informing the concrete expression
of the artist. Every important
piccc OF literature, as every I'M
7ortant work OF plastic art. Is the
expression OF a personality, and II
is not the material Of Il, but the
mind behind IL, that invites critical
Interpretation.
Not the technique Of it, then, nor
its content alone, though these, too,
rightfully claim attention, but the art
Isl behind his wOrk-not Manfred,
but Byron. not the Choral Symphony,
but Beethoyen-this is the true guest
Of the critic. as distinct from the mere
reviewer. or the expert commentator.
He seeks 10 draw the portrait of the
artist: zone of ste. Beuve's studies
is a. definitely portrait as one OF Hol-
bein's; and. on the other hand, por-
trait by Sargent, for example, is only
more obviously and not more really d
critical product than are the famous
portraits that have interpreted TO US
the generations Of the great"
Il is with portraits. or, as he calls
them. with eases" that Mr.. James is
chiefly concerned in his "Notes on Nov
elsts" lie has not only esthetic cult
ure and technical equipment, but also
that wider knowledge Of life which Nj.
Brownell predicates as an indispensa-
bic part Of the critics equipment But
there is a difference. traceable through
out these pages Mr.. James's sym
pathy, his understanding, is circum-
scribed By the quality Of his social
culture. which Is essentially and con-
sciouslv. not 20 say self-consciously
aristocratic He considers his cases
he draws his portraits, not only from
the psychological. the intellectual point
OF view; his fastidiousness, esthetic,
IL is true. in essence. burrows deep into
social origins as well. He dislikes the
bourgeois. for what is bred in the bone
will inevitably come out IN the art.
Thus Of Zola:
Taste, as he knew it. taste as his
own constitution supplied it, proved
20 have nothing 10 say 10 the mat
ter His own dose of the precious
elixir had no pereeptible regulat-
ing power. Paradoxical as the re-
mark may sound this accident was
positively TO operate as one of his
greatest felicities. There are parts
OF his work, those dealing with ro-
mantle or poetic elements, in which
the inactivity Of the principle in
question is sufficiently hurtful; but
il surely should not be described
as hurtful 10 such pictures as lie
Ventre de Paris as "L'Assom-
moir." as "Germinal." The con
ception on which each OF these pro
auctions rests is that of a world
with which taste mas ibNIAhb " h0f
and though the act Of representa-
ton NAV be Justly held, as an
artistic act. 20 involve its presence,
the discrimination would probably
have been IN. fact, given the par
ticular illusion sought, more detri-
mental than the deficiency.
As for Flaubert. "the only spectacle
open 10 him by experience and direct
knowledge was the bourgeois, when on
that ground imposed on him success
sively his three so intensely bourgeoi
tbemes-'Bovary L'Education Senti-
mentale' and 'Buvard ct Pecuchet.
To break away at all from the limita-
lion Of his knowledge of life, Flaubert
rad 10 migrate through the centuries
back 10 Carthaginians and merceneries
and eremites, 70 the Palestine Of Hero
dias." CuriouSly enough, the bourgeoi
note does not offend Mr.. James's fas-
tidiousness in Balzac's "Comedie HUI
maine: he even approves OF It's great
ladies'. invented though they were
rather than observed; and approval on
this ground from Mr. James is praise
from Sir Hubert indeed. Here, one
assumes. the critic cedes precedence
10 the appraising fellow artist. None
better than Mr.. James knows what
labor. what genius went TO the creation
Of the most massive single monument
erected in the history Of literature
Not the least suggestive in the studie'
of these three giants Balzac. Flauoert
Zola--is their insistence upon the fact
that none Of them lived life apart from
mis- books. lola had his hour Of inde-
pcndent existence at first hand in the
Dreyfus case, but by then his monu-
ment was completed