172. Volitional Effect. Whether considered important for its artistic value or not, the novel has often influenced the will and the active life of individuals and social groups. It has fostered the "will to believe," and the will to doubt; the spirit of submission to social law, and the spirit of rebellion; the resolution to live more deeply, and the purpose to escape the problematic experiences of life so far as possible. One may readily admit that it is not always, perhaps not usually, the fictions that are greatest as works of art which have had the most emphatic effect upon the actions of men; but such effect could hardly be omitted in a general study of the novel. Again, such effect may or may not have been intended by the author; and criticism does not necessarily lay the full burden of responsibility for evil result upon him, or grant to him the undivided laurel wreath for noble result.

Werther was the immediate occasion, at least, of many suicides. Religious restlessness and scepticism have doubtless been increased by many modern realistic novels. On the other hand, the novelists have had a share in bringing about a revival of religious reverence in the last few decades. - Scott thought that many "hitherto indifferent upon the subject, have been induced to read Scottish history, from the allusions to it" in the Waverley Novels. (Introduction to The Bride of Lammermoor, 1829.) — The influence of Turgenieff and Mrs. Stowe upon the emancipation movement of the last century is a matter of general knowledge; as is the effect of Dickens' fiction upon certain social reforms. Occasionally a definite institution is partially the result of a novel. All Sorts and Conditions of Men was a strong influence in the establishment of The People's Palace in London.

173. The Influencing Elements. To appreciate a novel correctly, it is doubtless necessary to feel its total effect as a unified work; but in many cases, separate elements have very separate effects. That which appeals to one reader may offend another; that which moves us at one time may

prove cold and ineffective at another. According to Brunetière, it is as important that one should know why one likes or dislikes, in literature, as that one should like or dislike correctly.

The professional critic, or the professional novelist, may be too much inclined to emphasize the technical excellence or defect of a work; but no adequate judgment of a novel can be made without some knowledge of technic. At the present time, the layman can easily acquire a reasonable equipment for this purpose. If the American reader is still likely to neglect the values of form in a novel, it is not too late to quote Lanier's opinion, given some twenty years ago:-"How strange, then, the furtive apprehension of danger lying behind too much knowledge of form, too much technic, which one is amazed to find prevailing in our own country." 1

Every judgment on the higher values of a novel, on its human experiences and philosophy of life, is a self-judgment of the critic. Absolute refusal to receive an influence may indicate as marked a weakness as too great readiness of assent to the novelist's appeal.

Publishers give testimony that the title exerts a strong influence over the average reader; at least before he knows a work. — Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver, and Don Quixote are familiar examples of fictions which have a very different effect upon the juvenile and upon the mature reader. Robinson Crusoe appeals to the boy as a stirring tale of adventure; to the critic, a primary interest lies in the marvelous verisimilitude, and the method of attaining it; to the reflective mind, the philosophical views of society, industry, and religion are of great historical value. In Gulliver, the political and social satire, the bitter misanthropy, escape the young reader. In Don Quixote, the humor reaches the majority of readers; the depth of pathos is fully felt only by a minority.

1 The English Novel, p. 30.

Scott's comment on the reception of the Waverley Novels gives many examples of the effect of separate elements. He defends, on ethical grounds, the catastrophe of Ivanhoe, which was attacked by the critics. He recognized the failure of Sir Piercie Shafton, in The Monastery, and repeatedly refers to the poor effect of the White Lady in the same romance. The success of Mary, in The Abbott, led him to attempt Elizabeth, in Kenilworth.

174. The Causes of Influence. A study of causes may easily lead one into difficulties, in literary criticism, as in history, ethics, or biology. As plant-growth may be said to depend upon the seed, the soil, and atmospheric conditions; the influence of a novel depends upon the novel, the reader, and the social conditions. Perhaps the analogy is not exact, but it may be suggestive. In the case of contemporaneous effect, the author and reader are often under the same general social influences, for which the novel is simply a distributing point.

The novel has this advantage over legal documents and perhaps over religious creeds, as a test of real character, that it often reaches the sub-conscious self, catches the reader unawares, so to speak. The unconscious optimism of a man who believes himself a pessimist may be shown. by his choice of fiction. A reader who nominally accepts a creed of renunciation of the fleshly appetites may crave the sensationalism of debased passions, and find it in the novel. In the individual or in social groups this unconscious or covert self may later show itself in a more public manner. The taste for sentimental literature in the middle of the eighteenth century might have foreshadowed, to the acute critic, the upheavals of the French Revolution period. Often a mental craving, revealed in literary taste, is at first semi-humorous, but later deepens into very serious aspects. It is a long way from The Castle of Otranto to Frank

enstein, but a careful analysis of the social causes which made the former a literary success will aid the critic in understanding the latter.

In the spontaneous likes and dislikes of literary taste, the critic finds a good field in which to study what the sociologist calls "organic sympathy and antipathy."

Methods of publication and reviewing are among the atmospheric conditions of the novel-plant. Even in the eighteenth century the reviewers were recognized as a powerful, and often a malign, influence upon popular opinion. - Scott explains the relative failure of The Monastery by reference to social conditions; and traces the success of Quentin Durward in France to French acquaintance with its historical allusions. Senior gives an itemized explanation of the popularity of Uncle Tom's Cabin, for England and New England separately; the causes he notes varying from the "moral coloring" of the novel to the lack of international copyright.

To the private reader, the circumstances under which a given novel first became familiar may be forever associated with the novel itself, as the circumstances of composition may remain in the memory of the author (see Section 159). To many individuals, certain novels, not necessarily very important in themselves, will always be clearly remembered, because they entered into episodes of deep personal joy or sorrow.

CHAPTER XII

COMPARATIVE RHETORIC

175. Nature of the Study. After the study of an individual novel, in itself, and in relation to the forces which shape it and the effects produced by it, the field of interest may be broadened by a comparison of the novel with other kinds of literature. Many points of this kind have already been given, but in an isolated and incidental manner.

By comparative rhetoric is here understood the comparative study of the "forms of discourse," and of the recognized types of literature. Such a study might be considered specially appropriate with reference to the novel, because of the complex, composite nature of that type.

In a detailed analysis, separate examination might be made of the historical, technical, and theoretical relations of the novel to each of the other literary types. It may be sufficient for the present purpose to indicate some of the principal features of the study, in outline.

176. The Forms of Discourse. Professor Gummere defines the drama as 'an epic whole composed of lyric parts.' A novel might often be characterized as a narrative frame with descriptive filling; but some novels could be better viewed as descriptive wholes with narrative parts. No single formula of this kind will correspond accurately to all the variations actually found in fiction.

Exposition, in the general rhetorical sense, is an essential