NOVELISTS AND THEIR CHARACTERS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 675, 27 November 1909, Page 9

NOVELISTS AND THEIR CHARACTERS.

: Certain .novelists seem ; to take tho • saino Bort Of ;inseniat9':[)rido iutheir villains that ' . wonien"show: in' the--tricks'of "• their 7 ' naughty, o ??ldren^. his ; cliar-' uTwtcrSris that.;of an -affectionate,father.-.'Ho.'i spoils;jthem, :i ; them/ / defends. •• thenil v-;sometimes he;grows:yery;angry with them; but i . * tho, ; same, and can't"j < their "exploits!/:How : he chaffs Pendenhii* special-favour- ■ i calUng him; facetiously' ~' llr. Pen," and '• i?' 7*!® roguo!" digging him, as it were;' p: tne,riDs, him on •' his ■ >:V'.pridesrto see Miss-Fotheringay," andeven on.his harmless."mashing". of Fanny. Bol- • •• •§o . anxiously: assuring.' the -reader that • •;./ theres- no ; harm.'in;the \boy, and he's a ; good • -tellow ftti iond.", One can see how he wor* :. ; ships ..Beatrix 'and : is devotedto ••Ethel..: Barnes . ■ 13 on ty one. of . his . characters '• eally • loses At. l i rather.; enjoying \his wickedness, ho . that'young -gentleman >very and . becoming, positively/ revengeful [ ; ftwufc.nira. Barnes to - vteform* ( Ah! -Barnes'.'Newcorae,.' Barnes New-. . : come. Is tho accent"on'the 'Ne wcome or:tho; .:, accent .on, the Barnes?) in - pages.of /.-touching horauyj xn>, indignant - tirades 1 of : remonstrancc-' ~. \Notaitig hae; the slightest effect on. that ahan-'j . . yonng Thackeray. appears/to lose ;• V-. ' co „ . . he. continues /'carry-::.jng-on in his dreadful iway'to',tho ehd of the ; : v:'.;ChaptoPi :behaving,>like a'-sort?;6f, hostile, god- ... father,-to all the.godchildreii oi -his : brain. -v. ■: '• ; it : ma!y seem ?toinvent'a • . inen .bate, lnsnlt,- andabuse him, the' I s , th ?' '{^ o " ; Steat'sentimontalist believes. ,;^olutely ; is this belief that convinces the reader. It is lacking - in ;■ most .modern .writers. -.- i;;;-,--.?'-'..:-. ; ,-v ; ' Diekens rlli vf, n m °, re l a , lf r- Pickwick, . Jonas Chuzzlewit, Quilp, - Lady - Dedlock, ; .and .the . . rest, than does the. boy .who is inventing ghost " "f'," 5 ' or if denture, beliovoin- the .; spooks or. pirates-he _is : describing for. tho-hor-v in the .of course. ■'''" i,'' k» ■ ' :^ e SP: s • wpoden- leg, every' drop ' v *wf Afr p ) ii.to 0n r I ? e every grin :. uf^ .'Mft of blue-. . . .gave /.their'' creator.' an' aciite imaginative joy. It .is i.that ..impression. as of / .. ; f??. wn . e r ..° Is ' ; .'.niaking-. up- .ns he' goes; on" • fi g Dickens. It is, perhaps,. a inoro ! artistiOi pleasure :pleasaro of recog- - not stop.to. think..it.is;unlike' life..',Ono' : knows .it is .unlike'any thing,- and, that.is its great fascination, and the; reason Why' wo' 1 lead on to '''r ' / , ,

•VBa^aVis .not;^ Wqtiy-i^ather'io' his! char- . acters.,, Unlike Thackorayy .he. has no pets, no favourites.-:: He never ? shows "either 'inotal indignation or gratified vanity at their beiiavjour. AHe.is .not even surprised at them. f Jfo is only intensely, marvellously'interested in tlem aU; equally,rwith passion ite merest. ~ The. very; siftllions have geai.if They:are all; wonderful, he,knows 'varv-'.-^^^^ei^a'PPcarAacb,:! tliur . clothes, -,their, health, their, reci^^)v how-much, rnoney thQy :havo and, why theyhave, it, to. whom it will -go in thoir; wills, and a .thousand other t dotails.;^And - not only does ho..know;all this. hut-.he ; tells:iis,,and wo know: it. . And if we; asked -him .for. nioro -wevknow ho -.would:tell us 'niore.:;Even -if, wo wished :to ; : bo ioid '■;how,tliey .would Ibehavo-in some hypothetical .position he would surely know." If ho -is-at.all,inclined to have nl,-weakness for orio of. his 'heroes, it, is, Lncien do Rnbempre. : Balzao uiidpubtedly/folt .his . death' very liiucli. " Jane. Austen, iii her qiiiotnvay, convinces U 5 that she 1 knows moro Vabotit':: her.'heroes ; and heroines 'than ishe;, cho6«e's>'t6: tell. She believes' in; thcci ;.Hhey aro real to her/ and slio ;has-fpund ;-;out;all;;ther8:;is: : to find' out .- about them, :;which :-is. perhaps, not! a, ;gfeat:'deal,, in her ;ownrcpol,-.rDserved;;iroiiical,nianuer;- I say xeseryed>be<!ause, ;thoiighisheCseeiii's : Javish .with her rdetailiVvvo^^;arp],^very;?iuro,:;that:-'sholis selectihg'pnly j.what :she • thirties .'s'uitii&le. for 1 pub:' followed :hcr ; :characti;rs,likova;;detßctivo in'"the nicderii .Tiiftlisti6^it)(iin^r. : slis : '''liitis*.%bt~'gUestioaeiil : 'ser-. 'vants,;' taken;; 'or, Glistened at v.keyholes; .but,: iii. sonio'- inylsterious, way, of her has "ascertained ,-ii';great ;,dcat:: ; moVe-ithah ; she mentions, .loftily.-.ignoring: :> nnythiiig.;;-about .them - that does, not concern the stoily,'--.: , : •

;. How -very ffi\v contemporary writers give' 'one this satisfactory sense that they know all about their characters, that , they havo even more than a bowing acquaintance with' them.' A - hasty glance at i the peerage supplies the pedigree"; the, gossip of the day, : generally inaccurate, their, mode'of life. Mr.- Anthony Hope ' lias met his heroes and heroines in society; he has taken Dolly to dinneri rather ifreqnently, and has begun a light flirtation with more than one other heroine, but he has .not' carried it very far net even so tar as they might have wished.■ < Ho has chatted with, his'heroes in I tho smoking-room,' and heard >a" little about the clubs. But if we asked him a few searching questions about' them where would that charming novelist be? Ho would change the subject with a-.humorous remark, or'ad-' mit honestly that ho really didn't know. ...-Mr;..George.•Moore, who is 0110 ofithe most serious and conscientiously psychological of all modern writers, begins by approaching . his characters soinowhat shyly, ■ Ho then warms to his: work, and proceeds to analyse theni. He is not superficial. He is almost too' subtlo. He follows them ; relentlessly, camera •in hand, from the.studio to tho stage, from the Sussex Downs to the Hospital, from the Convent to the boulevard. And in the end?" Ho is completely bewildered by thorn. He knows then!" less and less as time goes'on; he has followed them too closely. Disgusted at their vagueness and indecision,' he woujd, I think, almost admit that in the end lie was completely in the dark as to their appearance;; their politics,vtheir religion, or their vipws on art. It is. probable that the nicer heroines like DostoielTsky. iand that tho bad heroes ■ dislike Degas; beyond this all is chaos. Realism is always baffling to tho writer, and generally to tho reader. ■ ;

Mr. Henry. James is the great exception among modern novelists, in that he is neither photographic nor': superficial. .- He. knows as much about his characters as Balzac does. ' Ho knows the iyay they take theiif tea (with sugar or'., without), - how they stand when, they are smoking curettes, how they ring the bell, and every subtlest shade of their thoughts and minds. But lie is not at all anxious that-his readers should know, anything about it. Ho doesn't care whether they do or not.' Probably he would prefer, not.' The'more interestmg his heroines are, the more cryptic ho 13 about them. To have a style so subtle, that it completely.'conceals the subject has Ion? been a gratified, ambition of Mr.' James's. For tho enthusiasts who 'have, the courage to- climb :tho thorny : hedges of his style, there is a great roward. : ,For' those ,who love them, the longest , of his • books : are. never long, enough, and he is always too chary with .his descriptions, providing ;only. tantalising glimpses 'and sidohghts where we long';for- lavish , dotails.:.. - But, after .'all, I suppose - the novelists ,'giyo us'of'their best, and:it is nioro or less the reader s duty to collaborate with them. ,: f -I,'always feel rather sorry for, Mr. Hichehs'a; characters. : He. 'is so", unnecessarily.' unkind, tOf them. ; Ho does .not bully, them; -but 'he put's' them.: in the. most difficult; nay, .unheard of, positions.'.'and then is. obviously, angry,. if,they. don t swm. quite -normal , and nahtral:.'.ln' his attempt;- to :explore the' bypaths and unbeaten tracks .of-: their;souls,: he, drives 'them .some-' •times,.to the very .verge; of 'insanity.,, But. when he' .let?;; them 'off, more; lightly 'they 5 ai'e i'verv: loving. •'. The slightly sketched' and farcical of .his., characters'liavo a' qniti l surprising .vitality cannot forget Jlr. .'Bush in "Tho Londoners, .nor The Prophets' of' Berkelev Square." . ™n«2"«friter ;; of, "The : of' Marcus ■ Ordeyne'. 19 olio of the'authors'who-'are madly in .love |with their • heroines,- and', one catchessome, of. the enthusiasm of the writer for his .idol; , ; N : .-.; , • ;But-when. : an: authoress .is.in-; love 1 with - her hero,, ho.w terribly ,- cold she leaves us.: .Th 9: -more,frantically, a woman .tries to;convey the oliarra of an idealj hero r.tho. more we dislike :I' w: think:.,,of , uo,^^exception.; if Explain: can. -It seems .unaccountable, does it not?~-Frank Eichardson, in the "Westminster uazotte.