LITERATURE IN AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 152, 21 March 1908, Page 12

LITERATURE IN AMERICA

In America they are constantly holding enquiries .into the state'of in that country, and the outlook, for tlib future. Mrs.. Atherton .has talked upon the subject to a "New- york Times" interviewer. She attributes the .dearth. of great Ambrieaii. liovb'listsi.ito, "tholiterary . supremacy of. Mr. "Howells,"- and:to a-kind of "secret tyranny. :'th'at is;. at ~wo'rk.- '-lii Europe, sho says, this tyranny 'does not exist. ' Thoro tlio writer lias a far greater liberty to choose, liis canvas ahd.'to paint upori it with a free hand and 'in/a large ..mariner.. just- tliosb. pictures that appeal to him and that th'us_ become his best because most individual literary creation-. ,•• ■ "But in-America Originality is not'wanted 'by the powers-that govern our .literary 'output A ccrtain arbitrary school of writers has "erected here a narrow/conventional standard, 'a- hard .and fast rule,- to ..which the would-be author, with a message all .his own, is bound as t6- some. procrustchn bed whoso painful' limitations v'aro repressive of genius and bring all' who come within its.influence : to one dead' lcvel/of . sameness, of mediocrity, •'of -hopelessly'' middle-class ■'■ effort. \Ye must I write of the small, things, of life; we must paint' in miniajburo; we. must view. America as "ft stage 'upon which..the' great dramas of humanity are not acted if wo wish to be nuin : , be'r'ed. iiihong'- the elect "in, this pitiful . school that at present' seems to have the literary 'coMi'erice of this-couhtry iii its keeping.. It 'soon a'ppbars that tho. "school",to which Mrs. Atherton refers is that founded bj; Wil■liarii Dean: Howells; i=:She calls it "thomagakirio: school.""One', must not blame Mr.', Howells .personally,"'•"she hastens to explain, I'.'for: the existence' of .this, tyranny-, it lis nothing else ; but ' 'eniahate; uiicbri l sciously, from'him. His standard, of ;airt' has impressed itS'elf upon a large body of writers, who .' follow, faithfully in his footsteps, and whb exact of- others who aspire to-.t'rea'd the paths of-literature the tribute of doing and writing -ais\that 'standard indicates-should bo done."- Tbr'quote-further;: " . "It is a -goefd-enough standard iii its way; but it', is hopelessly harrow, finicky, common-' place,, in .its conception, and treatment ;of things. ; There is no originality to it. . .Mr.. Howells, you know, •: denouiice's .'originality. He tolls us to,: stick to tlio small things .of jifo in .'fiction, to.'shun .the.-big- tliingi._ He has produced, and * his. followers. maintain,, a literary stylo tliat'is' all Ts "and ri's.arid r's;,' It is the cultivation "of ,-a perfectly flat, even, 'surface:.' It ;is ' afraid of' rough surfaces, .of 'mountain'peaks ahd de-ep'valleys; It exalts the miniature- and 'toridemtos; tlio broad, sweep tif- impre'siioriisrii' ip: art. ;Faultless, in oho. sense,. it. may -bo';, but,- as. 'it is repressive of anything partaking of the fire 'of genius' j—which' must be .original in,.form :aiid sub-. stanco or. cease 'to' .'altogether—it ■is somewhat' 'of 'An ■. incubus; to th'e 'artistic , expression - of'. truth.;. Those who . follow this school a'ro, agreeably' impressed with the idea that . they belong toa sort of litbrary .aristob-, ra'cy—but really;it";is;the dreary, j'tive, middle, class that is cultivated arid voiced by.it." /v ■ ji-'-v',--. -v . .■Mrs! Atherton : proceeds; to; illustrate her ..jiomt ';. by,-.citing it,'. ;c'oncretb - instance that . recently fell .within her 'own. experience.. Sho •was invited,. she Says; to . to. a "composite novel, as planned by Mr. Howells. to bo completed in twelve parts. Each of tne parts was to,be.written by a different author, and the whole to; be published .dhoiijmoiißljp-i Fivb.'bf the parts, byjlr., Howells, Mrs; AVil-kiris-Freemari,' jolin ; K'endrick Baiigs, Htinry van Dyke,, arid Elizabeth Stuart.Phelps; were submitteU/to her with'the 'understanding that sho. yis.'/t'o writo tho sixth .'part. '"Well;" sho siiys, "I read. them bver. . Absolutely I coiild/riot'distinguish one stylo from -'another; .they were s'o. beautifully alike, such faultless specinficris of ; our /American' magazine school k Who tlio authors wero I could hot imagine, since they all appeared to be from one hand." Mrs. Ath'erton was afraid that hers might bo a. discorclaht riqto/in. tliis'symphqnyii'arid finally, declined, to' contribute.' . I. ; But how about Robert Chambers and' Edith Whartmi? she Was ~Aro riot such a hopeful-augury ;of better things? To tlieso qu'estioii's'Mrs.' Atherto'n replied:—, :. . "It. has always; appea'red / tb : me that Mrs.; -.Wharton, has hiado the sairio mistake in. her art that Mrs. Craigio 'made. Both of these writers wef'b; ulVqilestioriably. clever to start with; but they waiited.t'o bo considered great; —aii'd they liavb ended in being dull. They are good draughtsmen,'but they can't paint. As for, their .'dullness; that ' may. possibly '.not bo considered a fault. . A publisher oiico told mb,, speaking :bf tho writers, in oiir Ariieri--can Maiiasiihb' School, 'It -is their aim to be dull.' So that, the case. Of Mrs. Wharton, it least, sh'o may • bo" considered a thoroughly a'c'ceptablo writer, judged by the Howells standard,"

A? for Robert Chambers: ', 7 . "His canvases are . decidedly | bigger than Mrs. Wharton's., . Chambers at least entertains. In; fact, I think ho is at.'present .the writer of. our best light riovel. But it is uiihiistakhbiy light—l think it' is endowed with nothing' that will forrii coritributiori to American literature." . Yet iii sriito of. this sweepirigly negative criticism, Mrs. Atherton ends. oil a positive 'note. ' "It..wbuld; bo unfair'," she concedes, "to ,lay<"ail the/blanio for this, suppression of originality fronr which otir literaturo; siif--fers so much at.7present ■to . any school of Whpn all js. said and doiie it is, an .-irisatiablb demand front this -'American public that brings oiit this poor-good work." - She adds, in closing; • _ '' ."The time will iiridbubtedly. como when wo will bo.:blessfed ...with at.least two st-aridards of-literary excbllerice; Wlieii that; day does come; there will be .an end to oiir 'present timidity, and books 'will bo published ,in spite of the .possibility that they might shock somo old ladies and givo bad dreams to "girls. Just riow tho successful literary, imitator commands a premium arid can find a lucrative market for all.the 'safe' things that, lie cart find time to write. _ But. tho writer withiri whom originality stirs with a great, unconquerable force, and who has the gift and desire to create life iri fiction on the 'laipo scale in which it is foiirid in the real world, H'ill break oiir prbserit antiquated bonds andgivo iis a. glimpso'of something now, some-, thing that wb can rest assured will -remain as a permarient' inspiration to true effort in Ariiencari'literatiird." - FLAUBERT.

Gustave TFlaubert's ineth6d_ of work is ,iritorestirigly described by, Miss Betham-Ed-warda in her "Literary Itariibles in Franco." Tho author of. "Madamb Bovary" was an epileptic, stricken in his !;wehty-secoiid.year, yet tho consequent invalidism, did riot dimmish, but rathbr 'Served to coiiceritratb, _ his powers of work. Miss Bctharii-Edwards gives an interestirig description, .of his night-long labours iii tlie little garderi-houso at Groisset:

"In this charnjirigiy situated workshop ho would literally entomb himself, only tho sound of his own voice from time to .timo breaking tho silerice. It" was his habit, arid an excellent orlb', without . doubt, to rbad arid re-read aloud every "newly framed sont-eatx).

Old folks at Croissot still remember thoso clear strident utterances, . on dark winter nights his lighted window guiding fishermen and sailors as a beacon.

"In search of tho right word; with Boileau lie could.haVe said jo cliorcho and jo sue, and tho seeking arid 'sweating went on with results moro or less successful throughout his life. ... Paragraphs wcro often rewritten half a dtacn times beforo being set asido as perfect as literary carpentry could make them. Tho typical phraso in Flaubert's writings, one critic has said, resembles a symphony having an Allegro, an Andante, and a Presto rhythm, sonority, completeness, all tho qualities necessary in verso. Flaubert wanted to 'give prose, leaving it prase, tho systematic construction of verse;' lio wrote to Louise Colbt; 'perhaps an absurd undertaking, birfc it is a fine, an original experiment.' Tho experiment occupied his days and nights."

In tho matter of punctuation ho was rib less careful. He paid tho utmost attention to stops ; oomriias ho called tho vertebrae of a phraso, and in the uso of them lie waS a pronounced master. ' "Littlo wonder," exclaims Miss Betham-Edwar'ds, "that under these circumstances composition went on at a snail's pace." Sli'o adds:—

"Nor heed wo ...el astonished at.the utter joylesshoss with which tlio self-imposed tasks wero got through, i 'You have no notion,' ho wroto to his friend, George Sand, 'what it is to sit throughout an entiro day with your head between your hands, beating your unfortunate brains for a word. With-your-self'-ideas flow copiously, unceasingly'as'a river. In my own case they form a narrow thread of water. I have herculean labours beforo mo ere obtaining a caseado. Ah I tho mortal terror's of style, I . shall have known all about thom by the time I havo done.' "

Tiio finished product' was small in quantity —only live, novels in about forty ybars; three stories (an' epitome of all his workj which-.sei'ved as models for Guy de Maupassant ; an unsuccessful comedy; and a running commentary, in .notes and -letters to friends which;, gathered into several volumes, may pro.vb Flaubert's most valuable contribution to French literature. 1 7