T II E II E S 1 13 R I A N
!i
A FETICH OK THE LATER DAY.
Without desiring to establish a dangerous precedent, vc
insert in this issue of TllK IlKSl'KRtAN, an article which ap
peared over the signature of a student, in the yotirmu, De
cember, 14, under the title, "A Fetich of the Later Day."
It has been suggested that TllK Hksvkrian publish each
term two or three of the best productions submitted during
the term to the professor ol English. Uclieving, for various
reasons, that the suggestion is timely, wc have here acted
upon it, in the hope that in the future the literary depart
ment of TllK IlKSl'KRiAN may become better indicative 01
the ccellcnc of the work done in the English department
of our I'liiversity.
Realism is the accented name for the tendency in recent
lii..rfiiiir.. niul in nrf to nrodncc exactlv what is seen by the !
physical eyes, and ascertained by other bodily senses. It
uses reason to connect facts, but denies the utility and verity j
ol the imagination, and the perception of abstract truth and
beauty.
The piiet revolution which assc.Hs itself on every hand,
declares that in biography wc shall sec the deformities, the
nellv meannesses, the little spites and follies of great men;
.UM-litvolnt in fiction wc shall have the whole garment of
every d.iy life placed before us, from a repulsively accurate
at tide in the Police Guutte, to an artistically correct photo
graph of the mannerisms of New York society. The mag
azines we must have Hooded with dialect, common places
and surface sketches of various "sections" of the country;
in p.iinting, a Millet shall spend his genius in representing
a ulf "carried like the sacrament," and a Meissonier shall
blend the rich colors of his glowing palette in the portrayal
of.icH.k fight. Is this revolution then, as it is said to be,
a phase of the great ISaconi.111 movement in favor of piactical
knowledge as deduced from the observation and comparison
of external phenomena? Hut the very pith of Uacon's idea is
utility or rather, for that is a much abused word, cmuem.,
increase of power.
If realism is indeed a development of the inductive system,
it should present the same results in the mental world that
induction presents in the physical world. Does it do so.
Does it make anyone wiser, better, stronger, more tolerant,
more gracious, more sincere, more hopeful, better able to
understand life and to manage it? Does it even anuru ....,
amusement that is not bitter, cynical, and narrowing? Let
u look at it on on this wider, easier ground! Wc all agree
that amusement is necessary, because it helps neutralize that
self consciousness which is produced by shutting ourselves
up in our own lives, and which makes us timid, irritable, and
mean. Jhit if wc are to be amused by the presentation of the
commonest and most depressing side of our usuai tun ,,..
iligs, what then? Take the case of one who lives in the city,
where his mind must be refreshed and rested by the influ
ence of literature and of art rather than by the influence of
nature. He has been engaged at his daily vocation and
things have not gone well with him, as frequently happens.
Perhaps some carefnlly planned business ar
rangement has miscarried; perhaps some really large am
generous project has tumbled into contemptible and de
spised ruins; perhaps some one has been unjust, ungrateful,
insolent, deceitful, suspicious. At all events, in some way
. .' ir .inuliic bun-
He has felt hi3 limitations, is tlishcartencu, ." -
iclfand his own place in ihc mundane scheme. He funis
the skies smokier than usual, the grimy streets full of vice
and want and misery and hope and courage, and bclicl in
humanity in general at a very low ebb. In these circum
stances he gets the unprofitableness as well as the discomfort
of his own mood and seeks to turn his thoughts in another
channel to escape from himself.
What has realism to offer with this very, cry common
exigency of life? In the library, a biography of a great man
whose achievements and conquests arc less conspicuous than
th: narro.v motives which dictated and the apparent
chance which accomplished them; poetry, some pretty, affect
ed trifles, and an imitation of a Frencli, rondeau, all of these
sugared over like a baker's advertising cake, and like it dam
aged in places, and showing the pasteboard foundation; fic
tion, one of Mr. Howell's fully wrought stories in which the
humiliations and dusty commonplaces of life are portrayed
with such exquislc clearness that one feels ashamed of the
whole business and wishes to apologize for having taken the
lihcrlv to be born into such a world; current literature, end-
ess dialect sketches, supposed to be new, but not new, be
cause whatever else it may be, the human mind is certainly
a microcosm of commonplace and understands all the phases
of it without being taught; visibly, not much comfort of any
high kind in the library; what aic the pictures on the wall?
The cock fight, the execution, "flirtation," boats on the
Thames, in which the Thames is so realistic that the murky
water seems to exhale an oflensivc odor. Egyptian beggars
and a barren, worn out field in which the evil side of na-
Hire has evidently conquered man, ami pema" ccn iain
him Is this beautiful life? Is it possible that this is noble
humanity, whose eyes see such things as these and who.c
touls conceive nothing? Is it natural to do and to dare, to
c n.,.1 firm and large of view in such an atmos
phere as this? It is neither natural nor possible! What
.Iocs result from it, is a fastidious and morbid admiration
of detail, petty and aimless; and in the rest, a sense of lim
itation "and oppression, a negation of the loftier possibilities
of life "a deprecation of the large and sublime aspects of na
ture and of man. When the victim of realism goes forth
to seek among his fcllowincn that relief from futility which
be has not been able to find in uoo.es am. yiwii.c,, .... ....
iconic who have been through the same dwarfing process
hnt he himself has felt. They do not talk of any great
truth, virtue or beauty, because these things seem far off,
exaggerated, mythical, yes, even extravagant and out of
taSt;.: !e .ms,mm,P Is it not rather a serious and active
evil which may cause the age of inventors to be followed by
'agoea, ab.es? For what we believe possible is not al.
so-but what we believe impossible is indeed bcyon..
sa , ofmen agree that next to absolute stupidity.
owdice in projecting and attacking enterpr great
est hindrance to the accomplishment of it. Is it alloc
cstninir :,:: to increase in influcu .it
nvc a cc ofconvcnlional coward,, that each one ,ll b
,?,4l to strike out from bis own .tr.ll.ncd plane, and
Slrinklm a great deed or a great though, as scnsat.o,,.
, -r .,.i oKenrillv impracticable
ZZ c". 'wSL U a Uireatening faction in caste, or, to
Moreover distinction, which is becoming
put it more plain. , c ass d.s ' d ,t makcs
one afraid to try an get
hC T - of luxu'r w 1 h humiliates them and rendersl
- . . 1 .1 .i;..r turn 11 nxciio t,.m-
of P-f--w do not the
r::i
in purpiu, uW. - -- - , j ncss 0f the other? And
J the energy