LITERATURE AND BELIEF.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1593, 9 November 1912, Page 9

LITERATURE AND BELIEF.

There appeared not long ago in the columns of a contemporary an article on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. It sought to prove that the philosophy of the poem and its wide circulation among all manner of people was the cause of what is generally described as "religious unrest." Such a contention possibly overestimates the influence of the Rubaiyat, because the general reader does not look deeply into the philosophical teaching of the poetry he reads; lie is, as.a rule, satis■fted with its beauty of phrase and rhythm. Ho likes to bo soothed by it for the time being, but rarely applies what he finds in it to his daily life. Hut if this "religious unrest" is traceable- to literature, and it. probably is, the literature in question is far more likely to bo prose writing than poetry. A recent writer in "The Academy,", basing an article on "rusty pans," a phrase occurring in Mr. Masefield's "The Everlasting Mercy" (a poem, by the way, which contains a philosophy the absolute antithesis of that of Omar), showed us that the present tendency in literary art is towards an ugly' realism. That writer went to poetry„for examples; had they 'been token from prose the interest of a far larger public would have been aroused and the argument would still have held good. A wider hearing would have been gained, ' because the peoplo who read poetry are comparatively few; the argument would ~ have been carried, . because . our prose deals in these same "rusty pans." It is to present-day prose writing then that we must turn if we are to discover the spring from which flows this devastating stream of anti-religious philosophy. A multitude, of-plays and novels- have been produced of late which teach nothing, but which heap scorn upon those things for generations "believed most certainly among us," It is not to be desired that every, volume coming from the press, should be didactic in its character. We (ire in ..all conscience sombre enough to need amusement, and amusement we may lawfully demand. The fault in these books is, not ..so much . that they heap ridicule upon' belief; it is. rather that, having thrown down, they do not build up. There is a fashion in literature as .truly.-as.there'is a fashion in clothes. The literary fashion of to-day is a gentle superiority to accepted; truth. Religious sentiment has come to be regarded as an affectation and nothing more. In the novel, the play, and most of the poetry of the day, it is either ignored altogether or used as a medium with which to paint 'the more vividly eccentricities t of character. To be religious is to be ridiculous, and ; the self-conscious Briton,'being in dread of nothing so muchas of ; making a, fool of himself, joins the colours of the new brigade in his. writing .arid' in his reading. Nothing must be left sacred; all must be.profaned. The laurels which were wont to ■ adorn, the brow of the greatest artist have passed to the unworthy brow of the most daring extremist The."great" writers are now they-who rush in and pluck down the veil which until their :advent had covered human shame. They focus a fierce light upon iniquity in high. places, and think they, have proved, society to be' rotten.. They distort prophecy and imagine they have convicted the prophet of'falsehood;' and having done; so, they finally dupe a too-credulous public into following them. Looking proudly at'the havoc they have wrought, they are pleased to call it "art." So we are.left to: wonder whether the, time will come again'when men shall deal in truth ,-and justice. We have grown .somewhat weary of the neurotio literature of our time, nor can we, all •believe that human nature is the p6or : :distorted, thing;that many would nave us think it to bB., .-For long we' have ; allowed - our souls to be starved;: are. our. intellects i also to 'suffer for lack of 'nourishment? With- 'soul 'deprived of true.religion, and intellect of true art, a nation may •as well prepare 'its death- ; warrant. The English _ nation at-the present moriient' is;.waiting with failing breath for:a man. to, arise and prescribe the antidote to the literary poison it has' been forced to swallow.—R.L.C., in "The .Academy.", ■■ ~- ."'; ■ '