“USE AND ABUSE OF FICTION.”

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 199, 29 May 1872, Page 3

“USE AND ABUSE OF FICTION.”

The first of the winter course of lectures in connection with the Young Men’s Christian Association was given ou Monday night in the large room of the Association, Auckland. There was a large attendance. The Rev. E. N. Bree, President, occupied the''chair. The Rev. Warlow Davies opened the meeting with prayer.—After a few introductory remarks by the Chairman, the lecturer (Mr, W. L. Rees) fame forward amidst considerable applause. The subject of the lecture was “ The Use and Atrnse of Fiction.” The lecturer stated that the meaning of fioflon was the imagining or inventing of soi|iething —the invention of books. He did not mean to include such inventions a? tile steam engine or steam hammer. Those represented a class of inventions which were not fictions, as anyone might ascertain by putting his hand underneath the steam hammer in full work. He divided his subject under three heads, which represented different classes of fictions. The first were those in Holy Writ, called parables ; the second were the romances ; and the third, the novels pure simple. He contrasted the advantages of the present age with those of past times, and showed that the present age, by the invention of the art of printing, had access to all the stores erf learning in the past. The schools and universities were now more accessible than they were in ancient times ; but of the young the most important means of education was through the novel. Novels were found in every library ; in the houses of the rich and poor, at home and abroad. From these novels the minds of their readers were constantly receiving impressions either for good or evil, as the reading of novels was the branch of education which was most carefully cultivated Novels were now more numerous than all other classes of hooks put together; and the man or woman who was not posted up in the latest standard novel was considered an unread person. He disposed of various objections urged against the reading of novels. The first objection was that novels did not relate that which was real ; and to this he contrasted the parables of Christ. It was also said, “ You cannot learn through fiction anything that will make yon wiser, or better aide to overcome the battles and trials of life.” He said it was by means of history that many facts were impressed on some minds wlisch would have been overlooked had it not been for fiction. He referred to the writings of Charles Kingsley, and held that all would .be better by reading those works; to those of Sir Walter Scott, which were pregnant with historical references. He also reviewed the works of Charles Dickens, and held that those who had read his works would have learned of contemporaneous history facts and incidents which they would not otherwise have become acquainted with. He also spoke of the works of Charles Lever, Mrs Beecher Stowe, and others. Abuses in England had been exposed through the pages of the novel, as regarded doings at private lunatic asylums, the courts of law, &c. The next objection noticed was, that the histories in novels are unreal, and tend to foster a spirit of unrest and adventure. It would he well to remember that the race they belonged to was one of adventure. That spirit had carried Britain’s sons to all parts of the world. It was the same spirit—the holy spirit of adventure —that carried her missionaries into so many distant lands. It was the same spirit of adventure that made Great Britain what she was ; that had created her colonies; that had planted the Gieat Republic of America; that spanned the oceans and seas, and crossed the desert places with railways and telegraphs. It was adventure that drew Livingstone into the wilds of Africa, and which was now drawing other Britons there to search for him It was the spirit of adventure that enticed Sir John Franklin away among the iev fields of the North, and it was the same‘'holy spirit that was causing Ins noble lady to find out the fate that befel him. He hoped that long ages yet to come would find the same spirit of adventure characteristic of the Briton. He instanced Milton’s “ Paradise Lost as an indication of what fiction was, and also Bunyan’s “ Pilgrim’s Progress.” These were simplv works of fiction, the last of which was'written in a gaol. He next referred to Parliamentary eloquence, and mentioned the appeals of Edmund Burke. Some of his most powerful appeals were merely the result of grouping a certain number of incidents together, all of which imaginings of bis own brain ; and it would be found that truth was far stronger and much more unlikely than novels. Instances were given in th j career of Ciesnr, Cromwell, Napoleon, the claimant to the Tiehbornt* estates, and the career of the convict Haley. Such instances evolved chains of circumstances which no novel-writer would have dreamed of tracing upon paper. The proper function of novel-reading was to inform the mind and strengthen the heart. In referring to the second part of his sub* ject, he held that fiction was abused wlmn its writers wrote trash and falsehood. gave an instance of what lie meant by referring to the works of “ Ouida. On inquiring at the libraries here he found that all the works by this wr ter were much sought after. He. got one and rend a portion of it, and found it the veriest trash. Several portions were unfit to be repeated, and which the lecturer justly said would cause a lady’s or gentleman s face to blush if repeated in ordinary conversation. And yet he was informed that these works were engaged by the ladies of Auckland “three or four deep. IPcondemned the reading of all such sensational novels, which would poison the mind, and sooner or later tell unfavourably upon both mind and heart. It was astounding that such works should be sought after at our leading libranes, whilst the works of Charles Kingsley and Sir Walter Scott were neglected. I iction was for a recreation of the mind, as football, &c., was for the body ; but when the mind became excited by reading of murders, elopements, and half-a-dozen divorces, it was unfitted to perform its daily duty. He cautioned the parents of families to see that the fiction their children read was of a healthy and instructive character, and not of the moibid exciting class so common in the present day. The parent ought to know the character of every work read by Ins children, either from his own reading or the advice of friends upon whom he could rely.— Cross.