deeply religious, conservative, speculative, and gifted with unusual historical imagination, reverence, and analytical power. The sensitive, impressionable nature of George Eliot, her profound ethical quality, her pessimism, are far deeper than any difference between orthodox belief and positivism. - The following are examples of individuality in formal details whether permanent or episodic in the author: - Fogazzaro, use of the leit-motif (Robiati); — Hugo, use of the rhetorical short paragraph (see also Hennequin); - George Eliot, semi-quotation; — Bunyan, numerical division of expository passages (in Defoe also, perhaps from Bunyan's influence); - Fielding, interruption of long episodic narrative by exciting incident in main narrative. See also the footnote, p. 24. 150. The Author's Age. A great lyric may be written at an advanced age, but the lyric-writing habit has rarely been formed, with successful result, after youthful years. Few of the great novels have been the work of men or women under twenty-five, and in not a few cases successful novel-writing began in middle life. If the recent advice of an American medical expert had been foreseen and adopted, the world would have lost some of the masterpieces of fiction. Goethe wrote fiction from 25 to 79; Hugo, from 21 to 75; Dickens, from 22 to his death at 58. George Eliot began at 38; Richardson at 51; Balzac began at about 20, achieved success at 30, and continued till his death at 51. The development of technical mastery in the course of a long career is to be distinguished from the general maturing of character; with which, however, it is associated. The changes produced by age can be studied in Werther and Wilhelm Meister. Some types of romance, as well as the short story, are more akin to the lyric than to the novel, and offer abundant opportunity to examine the influence of youth in prose fiction. The following arrangement of data is suggestive: Pickwick was written at 24; Castle Rackrent, 35; Eugénie Grandet, 35; Vanity Fair, 36; David Copperfield, 37; Vicar of Wakefield, 38; Soll und Haben, 39; I Promessi Sposi, 40; Tom Jones, 42; Waverley, 43; Tristram Shandy, 46–54; La Nouvelle Héloïse, 44–48; Cloister and Hearth, 46; Anna Karénina, 47; Pilgrim's Progress, 50; Middlemarch, 51; Robinson Crusoe, 58; Don Quixote, 58-68; Clarissa, 60; Les Misérables, 60; Wilhelm Meister, 28–79. 151. Sex. It has been said that true genius partakes somewhat of the qualities of both sexes, or in a manner transcends sex. The novel, however, is hardly the best form of expression to exemplify these tendencies. Its intense humanity, its complex exhibition of emotion, thought, manners, relations of the individual to society and to nature, are continually inviting the author to reveal the sex point of view. Perhaps the greater novelists are less conscious of sex than of nationality and humanity; while a conscious attempt to escape the emphasis of sex is characteristic of talent rather than genius, and cannot be entirely successful. Richardson is an eminent example of feminine quality in man; while his critical enemy Fielding seems anxious to fortify the masculine position. Fielding's disciple, Thackeray, is also consciously hostile toward the effeminate. In the ideal of "muscular Christianity," partly a reaction from the asceticism of the Oxford Movement, the masculine note is prominent. Some of George Eliot's early reviewers conceived her as a man, but more penetrating criticism discovered the characteristics of the woman. It is often said that woman is especially fitted for the novelist's function, by her power of minute observation, strong sense of satire, her interest in love, and tendency toward a personal and emotional view of life. Whether these are considered as advantageous, or truly novelistic, will depend on one's theory of the novel. Some of the qualities of novelistic style given in Chapter VIII belong, in the layman's psychology, to the masculine mind. In the general history of the novel, the main lines of development, both in subject and form, have been initiated by men; though later modifications of importance have been made by women. Certain types of fiction are more natural to woman than others. She has attained great success in the novel of manners, "domestic satire," and in some kinds of psychological analysis. In historical romance, her tendency is to modernize and subjectify individual character and social tone. Few of the greater Utopian, political, or allegorical fictions have been written by woman, and she has probably produced no masterpiece in the recent symbolistic movement. The romance of chivalry, pastoral romance, and the picaresque novel were organized and mainly developed by men. Their era, however, was before a general entrance of woman into prose literature. The initiative value of The Princess of Cleves, Jane Austen's novels, and Jane Eyre is large. In English fiction, Walpole is credited with the creation of Gothic romance, though Mrs. Radcliffe and Mrs. Shelley produced more perfect specimens. Historical romance, of the general type of Scott, is traced back to Leland, though Miss Reeve's Old English Baron came long before Waverley. On the other hand, the origin of the "humanitarian novel" is attributed to Mrs. Behn, of the "society novel" to Miss Burney, and of the "international novel" to Miss Edgeworth. (Cross.) Women novelists have often exerted strong influence upon their brothers, a familiar example being found in Scott's indebtedness to Mrs. Radcliffe and Miss Edgeworth. 152. Personal Episode. The author's temporary condition, as related to the concrete process of composition, has been noticed in Chapter IX. Looked at in a larger way, the lives of most novelists show distinct psychological episodes, based on physical, artistic, or ethical conditions, which have appreciable influence on their works. An important change in mental attitude may be unconscious, or it may be due to deliberate purpose. It may coincide with outward changes in domestic and social environment, or be more purely an inward experience. There are episodes of health, disease, convalescence, of faith and doubt, of expansion and contraction, for the individual as well as for social groups. In some cases one can discover a kind of irregular rhythm in the moral life, akin to the alternation of romantic and realistic impulse. The major episodes may often be identified with the "manners" of an author. These may be distinguished by choice of subject, dominant interest, or stylistic and structural method. Lanson1 distinguishes the four manners of George Sand as follows: (1) lyrical and rebellious spirit, interest in love; (2) more objective quality, socialistic, the religion of humanity; (3) rustic painting, production of the masterpieces of the genre idyllique in French fiction; (4) period of the grandmother tales, the public treated like a child. Brander Matthews gives a clear summary of the development of manners in Scott. Scott himself notes the deliberate change of manner in St. Ronan's Well; a change which was severely criticized, and brought forth the judgment that the great wizard had "written himself out." In the central part of the nineteenth century, a common phenomenon in fiction is decided change from romantic to realistic faith — at times an almost violent reaction, and frequently accompanied by critical attack on the old principles, and defense of the new. This transfer of allegiance is marked in Gogol, Galdós, and Björnson. In the later years of the century, somewhat similar changes are advance from realism to naturalism; or reaction from realism to idealism, in the form of historical romance, contemporary character studies, or symbolism. Occasional episodic return to romanticism on the part of the habitual realist is the rule rather than the exception. 153. National and Racial Influences. Criticism recognizes the difference between the racial and the national 1 p. 982. epic, and this distinction may be applied to the novel. In general tendency, however, the epic is more racial, the novel more national. The era of the true epic was before the modern nation and the modern sense of nationality were fully developed. Racial influence in literature may be considered deeper than national influence more emotional, physical, lying nearer the "elemental man" — but for that reason, generally less conscious. The history of the novel shows no national "schools " comparable in compactness and uniformity with the schools of painting. Yet there have been groups of writers approaching the unity of a national school; for example, the Italian novelists of the Renaissance, the eighteenth century English realists, and the Russian sociological novelists of the last century. In the individual novelist, national consciousness has often been pronounced; appearing in enthusiastic patriotism, antagonism to other nations, or the spirit of reform. Comparison of critical estimates of national character furnishes a natural basis for the study of national influence. A few examples may be given, with suggestions of application to individual novels: ... English: "Energy with honesty" (Matthew Arnold); "void of the sentiment of the beautiful . . . more apt for the sentiment of the true" (Taine); practical efficiency (Emerson). - Robinson Crusoe, Middlemarch, or Barchester Towers. French: Lucidity and strong social sense (Brunetière); 'the English novel lives by character, the French by situation' (Garnett). — La Princesse de Clèves, Cinq-Mars, Candide. German: “Steadiness with honesty . . . the idea of science governing all departments of human activity" (Matthew Arnold); 'the material, awkward, rather coarse Germanic point of view-German exactness' (John Van Dyke); "a breed absorbed in detail and minute observation" (Fitzmaurice-Kelly).- Soll und Haben. |