Some Current Novels [pp. 469-473]

SOME CURRENT NO VELS.
SOME CURRENT NO VELS.
T was remarked long ago by Burke that you
can not draw an indictment against a whole
nation; and for the same reason-because, however generalized and comprehensive the accusation may be, there will necessarily be some who
are exceptions and many who are innocentsummary general judgments, based on supposed
differences of race and nationality, are almost
sure to be inexact and misleading. Even Macaulay's schoolboy was doubtless aware that
the mutual misconceptions of Englishmen and
Frenchmen constituted one of the most prominent and influential factors in the post-mediaeval
history of Europe; and by fanatics on either side
the two people were supposed to be as sharply
contrasted with one another as the ancient Greek
with the ancient barbarian. Yet with increased
intercourse and wider knowledge this supposititious contrast has vanished; and now so competent and experienced an observer as Mr. Hamerton assures us that there is a greater Rifference
between certain characteristic types of Englishmen than between the average Englishman and
the average Frenchman, that, instead of Frenchmen being destitute (as we have been often told)
of "the idea of home," their domestic life furnishes a model to which their, insular neighbors
have not yet attained, and that the Parisian gayety
of disposition is very delusive evidence of a national frivolity of mind.
It must be said, however, that if these reciprocal fallacies have been in a measure dispossessed from the arena of politics and society,
they still dominate the general judgments of the
two peoples in regard to their respective literatures. If M. Taine firmly believes that the brutality of the primitive Angles and the gloom of
the English climate permeate and darken the
whole stream of English literature, the Englishman on his part considers French literature to
be a sort of type and example of all that is
frivolous, artificial, and wicked. More particularly in the domain of fiction does this sturdy Saxon
prejudice assert itself; and while maintaining an
attitude of benevolent neutrality toward the pruriencies of Ouida and the audacities of Miss
Broughton, few Englishmen would hesitate to
declare that "French novels" are inherently, inevitably, and invariably demoralizing.
How deep-seated and obstinate this conviction is will be appreciated when we consider the
amount of evidence in refutation of it that has
been furnished by recent French writers. If we
confine our attention to the performances of Zola
or of Alexandre Dumas the younger, the opinion
might seem to be justified; but, on the other
hand, the average of current English fiction is
far more objectionable on the moral side than
the historical romances of Erckmann-Chatrian,
or the powerfully dramatic stories of Cherbuliez,
or the real life-pictures of Daudet, to say nothing
of the tender and dainty idyls of Andre Theuriet;
and now M. About, turning aside for the moment
from such ingenious conceits as "The Notary's
Nose" and "The Man with the Broken Ear,"
has achieved a conspicuous success in the distinctively English-American domain of didactic
fiction.
"The Story of an Honest Man" * is as unmistakably "a novel with a purpose" as any
production of the Puritan spirit in either England
or America, and, if its readers are not improved
by a perusal of it, it will be from no fault of intention or effort on the part of the author. Finding that his countrymen are being drawn away
more and more from the simple ideals and homely
virtues of their forefathers, M. About endeavors
to provide them with truer standards and safer
guides for the conduct of life; to show them
that the highest nobility and elevation of character can be combined with the contented performance of duty in the humblest stations; to
win their adherence to the humane and inspiring
doctrine that mutual helpfulness, not selfish competition, is the law of a healthy social development; to make them, in short, better Frenchmen
and better men. No experienced novel-reader
is unfamiliar with this species of story, and in
general they constitute the pitfalls in the path of
the pleasure-seeker; but "The Story of an Honest Man" differs widely from most others of its
kind in the art of its arrangement, the skill of its
execution, and the tenacity with which it maintains its hold on the interest of the reader from
beginning to end. Such a story told by Mrs.
Whitney or Miss Yonge would have been preachy
and prosy in the last degree, and would have
contained reams of exposition, exhortation, and
sermonizing; but M. About has complied literally with Thoreau's advice to the makers of books
to "leave out all their dullness," and while the
reader is never left in doubt that a moral is being very strongly enforced, he is never allowed
to suspect that he is the victim of moralizing.
The explanation is that, with the instinct of a
dramatist and the art of an accomplished character-painter, M. About conveys his lessons, not
* The Story of an Honest Man. Translated from
the French of Edmond About. New York: D. Appleton & Co.
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