there have been insanely convinced of the reality of fiction. The degrees between such insanity and cold-blooded refusal to enter the illusion an artist has prepared, make an interesting scale, and raise some delicate points in the theory of æsthetic interpretation.

In a complete and constant value, illusion is found only in the representative arts; but it has a minor occasional function in architecture and music. To the layman, its values seem to be most clearly shown in painting and in the drama.

In painting, a curious if not strictly legitimate example of the shading from reality to illusion is found in the cyclorama- with its real objects in the foreground. Compare the combinations of painting or sculpture with a background of real landscape.

Illusion is produced by means of an arrangement of real materials, and it often happens that these materials interfere with the illusion. For a simple example, if in a novel a medieval character should use the scientific language of the nineteenth century, it is not probable the scientific reader would "believe" in the reality of that characterthough he might choose to be deceived, for the sake of æsthetic delight. Except in the purely dramatic novel, a continuous illusion is rarely attempted; and in few novels of any form is it attained with complete success. A distinction could be made between narrative illusion - the imaginative conviction that the events related have happened; and dramatic illusion - the corresponding belief that those events are happening in the present time.

A discussion of the methods of producing illusion would be in large part a review of recent studies of realism. Professor Moulton's analysis of the methods of "rationalization" and "derationalization" in relation to the drama, ought to prove helpful to the student of the novel.

There is perhaps no English novelist in whom artistic illusion of a realistic type can be examined with more profit than in Defoe, and no

better novel for this purpose than The Plague Year. Compare these two statements regarding that work: — "It is fictitious throughout " (Cross, page 29); —"Now Defoe's work is not a fiction, nor is it based upon fiction; and great injustice is done to his memory so to represent it.” (Introductory Observations, Brayley's edition, 1882.)

208. Theories of Art. A comparison of representative theories shows that some of them keep quite close to the nature of art as analyzed in Section 189; and that others seem to arise without particular reference to such nature, possibly in violation of it.

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A few broad and familiar conceptions of art readily applicable to the novel may be given, in a very condensed statement.

I. Art is an imitation of nature; as accurate as possible. (Aristotelian, realistic conception.)

2. Art transcends nature; is a human escape from its ugliness, complexity, transitory quality, etc. (Platonic, idealistic conception.)

3. Art is an expression of the individuality of the artist. (Lyrical, impressionistic conception.)

4. Art is a specialized (emotional, moral) means of communication between man and man. (Sociological

conception.)

In the study of an individual novel, the question is, which of these conceptions does the novel best embody? and which of them, if any, did the novelist have in mind?

As an inductive study, it would be interesting to compare a considerable number of conceptions of art by eminent critics, and reduce them, so far as possible, to common terms. The non-scientific student might find greater pleasure in applying to the novel the conceptions of thinkers whom he recognized as personal masters.

The following application of specific ideas of art to Silas Marner is merely illustrative :

"In Art, the paramount appeal is to the Emotions - its purpose being pleasure." (G. H. Lewes.) — The main appeal of the hero, in his character and his history, and of most of the other characters, is largely to the emotions; but "pleasure" would need a rather broad definition to be considered as the real purpose of this novel. Such definition, however, is very common in æsthetic criticism.

"Art is a human activity, consisting in this, that one man consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings and also experience them." (Tolstoi.)-George Eliot lived through emotions similar to those of her hero, in her personal moral history; the feelings of some of the other characters she experienced only in the imagination. Is this second form of emotional experience outside of Tolstoi's conception? Silas Marner has been a literary success, only in part a popular success; so that it only partially satisfies the last requirement of Tolstoi.

"All the great arts have for their object either the support or exaltation of human life, usually both." (Ruskin.) In Silas Marner, support is given to human life by the spectacle of patience under suffering; and by the exhibition of rational, moral law governing the individual and social life. There is a certain exaltation of human life in the beauty and fearless fidelity of Eppie, and in the happiness which radiates from her; but on the whole, in this novel and in her other works, George Eliot is inclined to look upon life as a matter of noble endurance rather than of brilliant victory.

"Art must make obvious. . . the structure of the actual world, the forms of its connection, and the absolute value and significance of these forms." (Lotze.) — It is clear that this idea of art calls for interpretation as well as exhibition. It demands some philosophical power in the artist, and George Eliot has this beyond the majority of novelists. Among forms of connection of the actual world which Silas Marner interprets, are the bonds of the family, the relations of the church to the individual life, of one generation to the following ones, etc. The absolute value and significance of the family, for example, are clearly not found in mere sensual happiness, but in the moral development of its members.

209. Theories of the Novel. Many conceptions of what the novel is or should be are essentially conceptions of what all art is or should be, and embody the ideas just examined, or similar ones. Other theories endeavor to distinguish the novel from other forms of art, and belong under comparative æsthetics. Narrowing the field still more, are those theories which define the novel in relation to other forms of literature. (Comparative rhetoric.)

Artists differ so much in the combination of creative and critical interest, it may well be that some of the masterpieces of fiction were produced without much attention to theory; but, on the whole, the novelist has had the critical temper, and it is usually possible to discover what theory preceded, accompanied, or followed the creation of a great novel, in the mind of the author.

The following brief summary of some important general conceptions of the novel is in part a review of previous statements. Each of these conceptions should be compared with the theories of art given in the preceding section. Other ideas about the general nature of the novel will be found in the glossary, under "novel," and in the notes on the history of novelistic criticism.

1. The novel is not in a strict sense a determinate form of art it has no "style" of its own- - but is a mixture of various genres, or a type still in the process of becoming. It obeys no "laws," and obedience to laws is a necessary sign of a true form of art.

2. The above view is antagonistic; but the same facts may be accepted with a favorable interpretation. The novel is the most comprehensive form of representative art that man has discovered; and the most flexible in adding interpretation to exhibition. It is the true universal art; and, in an ideal sense, the true composite art.

3. The novel is an artistic response to the demands of modern individualism.

(a) With reference to the author, the novel allows a more extended interpretation of experience, a more complete expression of ideals, a more adequate imagination of a satisfying life-history, than any other form of art.

(b) With reference to the novel itself, the main subject is the individual life (especially the slow development of character under complex circumstances).

(c) With reference to the reader, individuality is satisfied in much the same general manner as in the author.

4. The novel is sociological. It excels every other form of art in its power to represent social life, in response to social conditions, and in its appeal to the social sense. There are many sub-varieties of this conception; based in part on different ideas as to just what "section of life" should be represented, and in just what manner.

210. Judgment of a Novel.— Many persons consider that ability to enjoy a work of art is more desirable than ability to give a correct judgment of it. This view is specially frequent in reference to the novel. Another idea draws a somewhat sharp line between an inductive analysis of a work of art, pursued in a scientific spirit, and the oldfashioned criticism by means of preconceived standards.1

In the present volume, the endeavor has been to accept, in considerable measure, the scientific spirit. All of the preceding study, if one wishes, may be considered as simply a preparation for higher ends— either of pleasure or of æsthetic judgment. To examine these ends systematically, so far as systematic treatment might be desired, would require another volume. A few paragraphs must here suffice to suggest a transition from the analytical to the judicial attitude.

1 See Moulton's Introduction, Hennequin, and various criticisms of their views.