SIS
THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
V
his requiem, nml tho flowers that ho worshiped bloom
abovo him nil tho year, whllohls bouIIms returned to tho
fountain which gave It existence
"Why did ho drop tho harp from Angers cold? lie
lived as if his veins pored music: from his lips camo
words of lire tho voico of Greece tho tones of Ilomcr's
lyre." A. D. A.
THE REALISM OF HEN BY JAMES
Tho portrayal of things as they aro, as opposed to crea
ting them aiiow, has becomo a prominent feature in tho
literary world and has slightly disquieted tho public
sense of fltucss so long left as It were, resting upon it8
oars.
Tho plot of tho "Europeans" is grandly conceived : tho
object being to compare European and Amorican cus
toms and charaoto rs, as well as to depict tho difference
in tho social atmosphere. Tho Portrait of a Lady is
nearly tho counterpart of tho "Europeans.11 In this
latter, two individuals brother and sister; Felix and
Eugenia, of American parentage but bred iu Europe aro
tho central characters. Eugenia has enrlcy contracted
a morganatic marriago and now has become obnoxious
to the family she has entered; and they, regardless of her
feelings, are seeking to rid themsolves of her. Matters grow
so execdingly unpleasaut that she resolves to cast
her lot elsewhere, and in company with her brother sails
for America, hoping to chance upon relatives living iu
tho neighborhood cf Boston. Arriving hero they live for
some time in un out-of-the-way place, when Anally one
Sabbath morning Felix goes determined to seek the rela
tives who aro to servo as convelnences for his annoyed
and now restless sister. Arriving at tho home of his
Uncle, Felix meets iu tho garden his cousin Girtrudo,
rather moody. Learning who he is she shows him great
attention, even (casting him unon tho cholco viands pros
pared for Mr. Brand the especial family favorite and her
unaccepted and unacceptable admirer. This repast was
no more than completed when tho rest of the family re
turning from devotional exercises, aro introduced to him.
In his characteristic way, he soon, rather reluctantly
takes his leave, having mado quite ;a favorable impression'
and joins his sister, from whom ho has promised the
family an earloy visit. Thoroughly imfatuated as he is
with tho loveliness of his relatives and their exquis
ite surroundings, ho still can not create a like sym
pathy in Eugenia. She is utterly disconsolate, and only
feels that all about will bo unpleasaut for her; aud that
to be agreeablo, a thing highly essential at this stage,
will bo to her an unending effort. Determined however
upon a successful future, she lays many heartless plots
whereby at the sacriAco of all else she hopes eventually to
return to European society with contentment and satis
faction. Thus it is that her haughty and cold bearing
when in company of her relatives and their friends, is
sustained with dignity, and actually meets with admira
tion from them. Indcpictiug these scenes and describing
tho maneuvers of Eugenie the author is at his best. Ho
has in her tlio typical European woman: shrewd, deep
plotting, couscienceless, uo doubt unconquerable in in
fluence; and well does ho execute his conception of tho
power of such ajpersonupon our quiet, innocent and unam
bitious American society. She is, in fact a perfect enigma
to tho ordinary American mind, and all is commotion
and oxcltoment about hor, whon sho is ushered Into our
prcsonco.whlloBhoromalnsandfor no short tlmo artor
her departure Tho effect produced by hor Is far different
from that by Felix, tho easy-going, indlfforont, unsucccss
ful artist, but conventional Europoan gontloman, who ap
poars upon tho scone, plays his important, interesting
but unexoltlug part, makes his exit without croatlng a
ripple, unless it bo whon ho has gained tho hand of Gir
trudo in prosencc of tho wholo household. Even this Is
so nearly in accordonco with tho courso of events in
American society that it can scarcely bo classed with tho
over surprising feats of Eugenia.
While wo grant that tho author no doubt docs himself
great credit in this direction, wo crltlctso him, perhaps
soveroly, for tho characters ho has selected and the plot
ho has invented. To th'i Amorican mind it is almost im
possible to concoivo of a state of society such as Eugenia
represents. Wo must contedo that under peculiar social
conditions Europe has developed a typo of women, who
not by integrity aud innocence, but by shrowdness, and
I may say consciousness of woman's natural power over
man, so influenco him that they may in all truth bo said
to havu In hand tho rudder of tho State itself. Along
with this concession wo should probably, in order to
deal fairly with tho author, grant also that such charac
ters have more saileut points' and offer easier subjects to
tho delineator, as woll as greater Interest to tho reader.
But we cannot excuso Mr. James for this -selection upon
theso grounds alone, nor on account of his raro facility
with such characters, for this no doubt is rather tho gross
er and baser part of an authors's literary capital.
To portray a character like tho even-tompored, pence-ful-mlndod
Mr. Wcntworth, or the calm, dellboreto Mr
Touchette, and do himself and them justice, at once and
together, Is impossible for Henry James. Notico tho
'Portrait of a Lady" how In all its ramifications ho
seems to dote upon its worst characters, and how ho lets
drop into tho background those unsually considered
tho more enviable and Ideal. Isabel Archer a blooming
studious American girl, is protected, being parentless, by
her brotherinslaw and married sister. Her aunt Mrs.
Tonchettc, also of American descent, bnt for sometime
mistress of Gardeucourt England, resolves to regain her
lapsed social prestige. Sho accordingly offers this Isa
bel, as the most attrnctivo of hor nieces, a homo and pro
tcction, and thus secures in return tho now promiuonco
she has desired. Her plans meeting with success sho returns
to her husband as unceremoniously as sho had departed.
Now notice carefully the intentions of tho author. Ho
would depict Isabel as tho typical American woman,
pursuing a vaguo aud impossible ideal of lovo, art and
magnificence, and under tho influenco of tho Continen
tal atmosphere notes her developemont, simple, open, un.
suspecting as sho is. Whilo wo grant that tho fato of
Isabel is too often repeated in the history of similar char
actcrs, wo have tho samo criticism to make on tho aus
thor's selection aud conception that wo mado in tho case
of tho "Europeans". Ho would not only hayo us boliovo
that tho young and innocent Isabel is, under theso
circumstances and amid such surroundings im
pressionable, but that all Americans, under liko
circumstances are equally so, a generalization wholy
unwarrented.
Wo have with us women, who, I doubt not could wol1