The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-06-02
WAR DESCRIPTION NOT
THE NOYELLST'S FUNCTION

War is an abnormal thing. The his
tcrian must describe il. and even in
the best historical descriptions of bat.
ties, military technicalities are a bore.
The soldier must master them, but
they are dull reading in a novel. Ger
vantes. who had fought at the battle OF
Lepanto, was far too wise 10 intro
duce any battle scenes into Don
ouixote." Robert Louis Stevenson
has drawn attention to the almost en-
tire absence of any allusion to war in
Tielding's Tom Jones'" although the
period in which Jones is supposed to
have lived was one in which war never
ceased There is . solitary reference
to the war between England and Scot
land in 1T45, when Tom, sent adrift
~ Mr.. Allworthy and without guinea
~ jingle against milestone, is about
to enlist
On the other hand, SCOTS tales are
filled with accounts of tournaments
and of battles. But by entertaining us
tr unconyincing pictures of war he
has only given an aspect of more utter
unreality 10 the "Wayerley Novels"
Stevenson has himself sinned in this
respect. The fighting in kidnapped"
and in THE Black Arrow" affords
him an opportunity OF vigorous writ
Ing. But even the most effective
description Of blood-letting in his
stories is only tour de force"
/ Victor Rugo and Dumas pere ran
sacked history in order to get sub
jects for their romances. But even
Hpgo's attempt to describe the battle
| Of Waterloo is only rhetoric. He
Z nf 1any crl1
! ignoramus," and characterizes Water
loo itself as the triumph OF medic
Gritty" adding, with an exhibition of
colossal ignorance, Waterloo is a
battle of the first class gained by a
telligent schoolboy could correct Vic
tor Hugo's misinterpretation of his
/ tory.
] Flaubert, who wrote about the
nIutiny of Hamlcar Barca's mercen-
aries, took good care not to describe
actual war. He knew that it would
be an abomination In fiction. Zola.
who was an artist, thought he could
write q novel about the Franco-Ger-
rian war. The result was La Deba-
cle," book which makes US see war
as a shambles- which, in spite of eff
+ feminite pacifists, it is not.
/ Writers who cannot distinguish fic-
ton from melodrama, such as Cuida
and Hall Game and Marie Corelli, may
drag war scenes into their books
and by doing so they generate the
same sense OF horror and disgust that
! one feels at seeing a dreadful acct
dent. Even so great novelist as
! Tclstoy has not succeeded in picturing
q battle satisfactorily in War and
/ Peace"
I 1t is not in novels that we can ex-
pect ito find the great war of our time
realistically depicted. The psycholo.
gist who dfssects human nature in
/, fiction win study the home life Of men
and women and show US the action
OF the passions under normal condi-
! tons.
/ In my opinion this tremendous war
4 will not change human nature. Char
! latans, whether they be professional
politicians, preachers or journalists
!, may split the ears Of the ground
/ lings" with such pseudo-vaticinative
drivel. 1t will be for the great novel.
lst of the future to describe how PEG.
1 pie live when the war Is over. We
may be sure that they will live in
the same old way.
4