THE HESPERIAN.
h
scene. With slow steps and folded arms Ira Macbeth entered
and commenced the soliloquy 'If it were done,' etc, to our as
tonishment, in English." This Ira Macbeth was a mulatto
tragedian, Ira Aldridge, who, a generation ago, won tragic
renown abroad, which he could not win at home on account of
his having the misfortune to be born with some African blood
in his veins, Taylor says that the performance received en
thusiastic applause, and at the end of the play there were vo
ciferous cries of "Aira! Aira! Aldretch! Aldrctch!" He far
ther says that "the dialogue one voice English and all the
others Russian proceeds smoothly enough, but the cfTect is
like nothing which our stage can produce." Had he lived a
few years longer, he would not have written that scntencc;for
our stage has produced the same effect, and we can say of a
.Boston and a New York audience what he said of the benight
ed Navgorodians, "Nevertheless, the audience was delighted."
GOGOL.
More and more interest is coming to be felt by American
readers in the works of the three great Russian novelists, Go
gol, Turgcnicf and Tolstoi, and it is perhaps needless to say
that they arc well worthy of this interest. Up to a rompara
atively recent date no great regard, I believe, has been felt
for Russian literature, at least by English speaking nations. I
am inclined to believe that this has been more the fault of ig
norance, owing to the lack of adequate translations, than
from any deliberate judgement based upon personal observa
tion. Now that wc have in our possession excellent transla
tions of the greatest masters of modern Russian literature, it
would be well, I think, to avail ourselves of the opportunity
offered, and become, if not thoroughly familiar, at least in
some degree acquainted with their writings.
Of the novelists whose names I have mentioned the first
has probably succeeded in awakening the greatest interest for
his works among all classes of readers, and whose fame as an
author will undoubtedly last the longest, at least outside of
his native country. Believing this to be true I shall take the
liberty of giving, first, a short account of his 'ife, and after
wards of giving a few of my impressions of one of his most
interesting works.
Nicolai Gogol was born in the early part of the present
century, at a time when Russia seemed to be just emerging
from a state of half barbarous life and entering upon a per
iod of greater intellectual and moral refinement. At school,
Gogol did not particularly distinguish himself, a fact which
is quite refreshing to some of us, considering that in the biog
raphies of nearly all famous men we are told that in his stud
ies his wonderful progress was so remarkable as to call forth
from his instructors frequent encomiums and predictions of his
future, greatness," or something to that effect. Indeed,Gogol
, pursued pretty much the same course in his student's career
as is followed by a great many of his brethren all over the
world; he paid no particular attention to his books during the
term, but before examinations studied hard, and by the help
of avery retentive memory was fortunately able to pass them
with some degree of success. I should not encourage a stu
dent, however who does not feel inclined to devote himself
to hard 'intellectual work, in the belief that his disinclination
or study is an omen of genius, not at all. Somehow -this
mle does not seem to apply in all cases, and he who follows it
implicitly will perhaps find that after all, something in his
case must have been wanting. But to return to Gogol. The
education which he really acquired, and which had the most
lasting influence upon his life and writings, was obtained in
his father's house. It is somewhat remarkable that a man
who was so averse to all kinds of technical learning, who hat
ed the classics, had a deep rooted objection to the German
and English languages, who seemed to have a sort of predi
lection for the bottom of his class, and who, finally, was so
careless in his orthography as to require the assistance of his
teachers in writing letters, should have become one of the
foremost writers of his age. Yet it is none the less true. It
calls to mind the early career of Patrick Henry, who in many
respects must have resembled Gogol, but in none so much as
in disinclination to learn. Gogol graduated at tiie age of
nineteen somewhere near the foot of his class, and the next
year went to St Petersburg to win success in the field of let
ters. He met with many failures here, however, something
which seems to have been wholly unexpected by him. Soon
after he was made professor of the Russian language in the
Patrotic Institute, but not long after gave up this position as
being totally unsuitcd to his tastes. After this he devoted
himself entirely to literature until his death, which occurred
in 1852.
Gogol is perhaps one of the best ex
amples of how a man's nature may undergo
a total change at some period of his life. In him there were
two separate and distinct natures which, however, were never
manifested at the same time . When he first began to write,it
was with his mind filled with the stories and legends which he
had collected from every available source, and with his whole
nature imbued with a love for whatever was strange, fanciful
or wierd. His early stories show this trait very clearly in
deed. After his literary success had become assured, howev
er, he seems to have undergone a change in style of thought,
and he then began to write in an intensely satirical vciw. This
transition, as it seems to me, is a most remarkable one, inas
much as the feelings which prompted it are so widely dissimi
lar in their nature. As a natural consequence Gogol's novels
may be divided into two different classes, representing stages
in the transition of the author's mind from a state of simplic
ity to one growing out of his love for satire. The works of
the latter class I shall not now discuss; but as an example of
the first class, the author's 'iTaras Bulba" will probably
serve as ' good illustration.
It is somewhat difficult to determine whether a novel of the
style of "Taras Bulba" will be suitable to the general taste,
because it is in almost every instance so utterly differeut from
the class of fiction to which we have been accustomed. It is
safe to say, however, that if it be read in the spirit in which
it was written, and is rot judged by comparison with such
novels as those of Howells and James, its real beauty will be
seen, and will grow upon the reader the longer he peruses it.
A somewhat remarkable fact is that in this book dialogue
forms scarcely any part. Indeed theie is, properly speaking,
but two connected dialogues in the whole story, and these con
stitute the opening and closing scenes. The reader is at once
introduced to the three characters whose actions form the plot
by which Gogol has displayed his wonderful descriptive pow
ers. These are Taras Bulba, an old Cossack warrior whose
thoughts are only upon the stirring scenes of war, and his
two sons, Ostaf and Andru, who have just come from college,
clad in their priestly robes. Their strange appearance appeals
irresistably to the ludicrous side of the old man's rature, and
he indulges in unseemly mirth at their expense. Now occurs
ascene which is, to say the least, not strictly modern. The
older son instead of hanging his head and looking sheepish,
is. filled with rightequs indignation, and at once proceeds to
give his father a thrashing in the most approved style, after
which they "kissand-make-up." Taras is too much of a