The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-15

point OF view. My present opinion. how
ever, ts that the Younger English novel
lists are still deficient In a certain spirit
ual clairvoyance. and that this deficiency
excludes from their vision a whole con-
gcrics OF modern human phenomena
quite as real ~ those that they are
moved to describe. and more highly
! typical Of their own time.
1 presume that Flauhcrt will be men
toned. He was once my ideal his tech
nical ability still seems TO me as fine
as ever. But to-day, especially in has
Sentimental Education"-which should
be the master-pattern for many "A young
English noyelist-he ~disappoiuts me. be-
cause not once in that long book has
he produced a CLEAN Of hope. lie was IA
great realist, II by realism one means
constant preoccupatior with the more
ignoble human processes and the so
called invincibiliiy of fate but ne would
have been greater. and none the less u
realist. IL he had created al least a few
characters capable OF obtaining spiritual
ennoblement in spite Of circumstance and
nj the same time "A victorious climax ct
life. II is we'll said. however, that no
writer can put into his work more than
he himself Is conscious Of and Flau-
be t, whose rage against what he called
the stupidity of mankind. resulted finally
In that encyclopaedia of human stupidity,
Howard ct Pecuchet," had not so con-
stituted himself as to perceive the re-
verse of that medal-for instance the
capacity for elevation that is ineradi-
cable from the worst Of w.
This last assertion will probably seem
to align me with that American reading
public which appears TO desire the
cheapest form of sham optimism" But
let us xanine this public to learn why II
buys. by the hundred thousand. books
OF sugary philosophy"
1t must be e,ident-and this year
even to the younger English rovelists-
hat the world is not standing still. In
the European countries at war great
changes are imminent: In America. under
the proverbial confusion OF getting and
spending money. a new leaven is already
working throughout the nation. Symp-
toms OF this are innumerable expert
ments. of a more visionary form than In
Europe, for the a~inelioration reclama-
ton and elevation OF the individual. I
save lately observed various foreign
countries IN times OF peace, uut | have
seen In zone such a growth of generous
Ideas. in none such DISTINGUISHED response
to the appeal OF suffering and moral
observation. in none such faith that good
may l- evoked in human beings 10y the
proifer of good as in America. Here, in
short, though We are notorious for hard
headed and clos. tiS:.d practices, ther"
is-or was ill the outbreak Of the war
n more widely spread al.ruistIc Impulse
thar elsewhere. by "altruistic impulse
I mean Of course that suhlImated form II
sei.iEhuess which realizes that the ind'-
vldual like the nation. may expect only
pain until he has as much regard Tor
the happiness of others as for his own.
But what u IL precisely that tho
American reading public w~ants--this im-
mense public, which after all is America
iteelf, that In eager To- read cheap on
tinisIn uttered by "A picturesque. whim-
steal character Ia dtalcCt''
Beyond the persons with whom saiac-
ity and sensationalism lind "A market.
there exists "A vast American reading
! public that is not satisfied with such
things. Nor would this public b. salts
fed with certain Young English novel;
lists facing OF realities or for that
matter with Flauhcrt's facing OF reall-
ties, because to this public those writers
vision OF reality seems deficient. | cam
not agree with a recent English critl-
Cism that the Americans object to such
varieties OF realism wholly because they
do not want their pretty illusions about
life destroyed" Rather, | think they
have "A din but fixed perception that life
need not necessarily he so that the soul
of man should be superior 70 the forces
! called destiny that the material world
ought no longer to mould mankind. hut
mankind the world, This hclicf-which
in certain OF its countless subtle mani
festations IL ~curiously like that dis
seminatcd by the apostles of Jesus
Christ-produccs In those subject to il
an instantaneous recoll form every the
DRY approaching pcssimism, from every
form of philosophy and fiction that guess
tons the ability of human beings IN
surmount their ills and say, with Marcus
Aurelius. "Wherever 7 go " will he well
with me. for I carry within me what
will make me happy" No, it is some
thing more than a hypocrltical prejudice
that causes this r, election. II is a vague
yet passionate belief In n sort of mill
lennium for the individual and for the
race. n world embracing desire and hone
grown big in America in the last half
century and possibly destined some day
to mark this country with a unique
spiritual sign.
All these gathering ideas, to he sure,
have had with US some bizarre results.
because the impulses produced by them
are still largely inchoate. For the same
reason they have given rise to much
bizarre writing. Let MS remember that
what we see, both In our life and In our
writing, Is merely the beginning of
something new, in It's symptoms often
childish. because the thing that IL hap
penlng Is In It's childhood. We are told
that Rcmus laughed at the first walls OF
Romulus, the founder OF Rome,
Moreover. when we ara tempted To
say. Return to that sort of realistic
fiction that the youngcr English
noyelists arc continuing let US re
member that the longer one admires
exclusively Inc patterns ~ the pas; ;hs
more r~eactionary one grows. that II Is