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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1888)
4 THE HESPERIAN : tt !! ; Ji rn -i! u VA I have looked for a new novel from their pens. Then I got my fust introduction to "The Autocrat of the Dicakfasl Table," which in itself is almost one of the event8 of a life time. Was there ever anything written more charm ingly? Hawthorn's "Twice-told Tale" impressed me most by the s ir of complete and thorough Americanism which per meates them throughout, and I had almost made up my mind that this was what constituted the chaim in Hawthorne, but misleading "Our Old Home" he seemed to enter just as com pletely and as lovingly into the details of English life as he had of American life in the foimcr woik. V Some people seem to have an uncontiollable desiie to maik passages in every boo!; they read. Whethci one reader hrs a right to force his interpolation of a passage upon all future readers is a debated question. I have always felt like classing these marking individuals with those even less tolerable ones who insist upon reading aloud anything which happens to impress them, cither in a ncwspapei or a novel. They have alwajs seemed to me to be persons to whom ideas came so seldom that when lliey did get hold of one they felt in duty bound to rush out and announce it to the world. Perhaps we can necr peisuadc such individuals to allow an author to suggest his own lendeting of a thought, but would it be entirely out of place to ask them to add theii names to any marks they make so future readers may know that such is a good passage in their opinion and may be able to place some estimate on the value of the marks. Nothing is moie provoking than to find an article maikcd in a very emphatic way and to be unable to tell whether it has succeeded in eliciting the approval of a fust prep or of the chancellor. V Why is it that a novel, dealing with a tiagedy which is lived out for years, and which does not derives its foice from a murder or any sudden happening, will produce a greater effect upon one than the same events in actual life? Take 1'cre Goriot, for example. The tragedy consists in the gradual abandonment of a father by the daughtcis for whom he would have sa rificed everything. The climax of their , heartlcssness is as startling as can well be imagined. One who has read the novel can never forget it. Yet I venture to say that the same events in actual life would be commented upon in a gossiping way for a day or so and then forgotten. It cannot be that a good writer can repiesent such a tragedy more forcibly than it exists for the actors, for it is generally admitted that the art of writing is not developed sufficiently to represent perfectly human feelings. Some other explana tion must be thought of, and it has occurred to me that perhaps this is it. A good novelist -a Halzac if he wishes to depict the evils of filial disrespect, will exclude rigorously from his work everything which will distract the attent on of the reader everything which will lessen the effect he wishes to produce. Even though he may be true to nature, he can omit the trivial incidental things of everyday life, which occupy our time and temper any great shocks we may meet. And so his completed work will stand, as does the abandon ment of Pere Goriot, stripped of everything but its tiagic effects. This, perhaps, accounts lor the objective part of the phenomenon. The remainder rests entirely with ourselves. This, perhaps, accounts for the objective part of the phenom enon. The remaindei lests entirely with ourselves. The reader of a novel idealizes the situation for himself; the author merely suggests an outline; and the manner in which that outline is filled in depends entirely upon the temper ament or sensibility of each individual reader, If one who sincerely loves a parent reads Perc Goriot, the desertion assumes for him all the horror he is capable of feeling. Hut the same passages, read by one whose filial love has not been so fully developed, arc rcgaided in a comparatively matter of fact manner. This principle holds good regarding the events in actual life as well, but must be supplemented by another. Wiih us, bathos is so often and so inseparably connected with pathos that only in the most extreme cases does the latter completely exclude the former. In a case similar to that of Pere Goriot we should be so encompassed with the thoughts of Madame dc Nucingen's toilet, with the ball she was to give or with some other gossip, that we should have little more time or inclina. lion to seiiously take to heart her desertion of her father than she had herself. One of the best examples of this truth" is found in Anna Karcnina.. Tolstoi has been criticised for lack of aitistic feeling in delaying a wedding and throwing everybody into a state of terror lesi something terrible had happened to the bridegroom, when in tiuth nothing more serious had happened than that he had packed and shipped all his shiits, and was without that very necessary adjunct to a successful nianiagc Ceicmony. And yet, however much this touch of Tolstoi lacks artistically, it is only too apt to be be true to life. Many of our would be grand occasions arc intruded upon by some utterly unpoetic reality like this. These commonplace incidents, while they are often death to the poetry or tragedy of life, nevertheless form a bountiful packing which saves our sensibilities from rude shocks. Yet another point, perhaps, is that a novelist can hold his reader's attention to a matter until he has said what he wishes, while in actual life one may escape fiom a disagree able incident by a change of surroundings. CURRENT COMMENT. The dawn of a great national election is upon us. On every hand the hum of political machinery is audible. The conflict is to be fought upon grCat and leading principles. Between the old parties the tariff lines have been drawn. Every voter should find himself on one side or the other and help to decide the contest according to the dictates of his own conscience. The old idea of lauding parly candidates regardless of principle has reached that stage in the progress of events that intelligent thinking men can no longer rely upon it. It is true that the past political history of our country teaches that men will support their party's candidate whether the candidate or the party he represents is in strict accordance with their convictions or not, simply because they cannot see immediate gain by giving their support to some one else. Hut we can no longer be justified in judging the futuie by the past. In all parts of the country things are changing. The laboiing man can no longer with impunity be charged with following the leadership of party henchmen; but on the contrary they are beginning to break the shackles of theii political thraldom and asset t boldly their diffidence to any paity that is unfriendly to their interests. The laboring men of this state aie tariff reformers to a man almost, and many arc fnm in declaring their convictions, in rcgaul to theii past party affiliations. They believe in protection only so far as it is necessary to promote the interests of the country without leaying an overflow surplus in the national treasury. Theie are few free tradeis, but many who would effect needed changes are branded as such by trained hirelings. We believe with the laboiing man that the education of the present day teaches men to be moie