Recent Fiction [pp. 320-324]

BRecerdt EFictzon.
ence between Boston and western NewYork,
and between the different sects of dissenters
here, and their colleges and academies; he
knows the flowers and birds and other local
matters of the neighborhoods he deals with;
and though the good deacon's dialect and
diction is such as never appeared outside of
a book, the author's intention in him is not
so incorrect as his execution of it.
Still another man, eminent in a different
line, turning to fiction-this time the sculptor
and poet, W. W. Story. And as a sculptor
and poet ought to be able to write a better
novel than, not only surgeon or admiral, but
also naturalist, we are not surprised to find Fi amimne/ta a very much more artistic affair
than Grant Allen's "Babylon." Indeed, it
is as well written as possible, and quite as
good for a novel as Mr. Story's poetry is for
poetry. Its theme resembles Miss Howard's
"Guenn" too nearly; it is less painstaking and
less ambitious than "Guenn," perhaps less
spirited, but is gentler and prettier. It is,
we think, both good art and good nature to
drop intentional wronging of each other
more out of our stories of life and human re lations, and show more how fates unavoida bly clash. In this particular theme-the
Elaine theme, we may call it-it is an open
question how far the Lancelots should be, as
they usually are, held responsible morally for
having allowed love to be given which they
could not return in kind. The girl herself
should have some right to say something in
the matter; and it is certain that such a girl
as either Guenn or Fiammetta would choose
to have had the love and its consequences,
rather than the lifeless peasant content that
would otherwise have been hers. Where
there has been no effort to win love, no advantage taken of the love given, no deception or creating of expectations that cannot
be fulfilled-merely the opportunity given
for the girl's pure and unsolicited devotion
to attach itself it is a question whether the
novelist should hold up the result as disastrous, and the man as a wrong-doer. It is a
1 Fiammetta. By W. W. Story. Boston: Houghton,
Mlifflin & Co. x885. For sale ill San Francisco by
Chilion Beach.
fortunate arrangement of fate that the girl
who is not strong-hearted enough to prefer,
on the whole, the higher loving and its con sequence of sorrow, is also the girl who gets
over such an experience easily, and takes the
cheaper attainable, rather than the costly un attainable.
Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson's story in
"The Broken Shaft" is a small excursion in to the same region he ventures farther into
in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mfr. Hyde.
This is a fantastic little romance of the sci entific-supernatural sort now beginning to
take the place of the old-fashioned ghost sto ry, but has a very definite "moral purpose
superadded." This is no drawback at all
to it as a story-in fact, rather an enhanced
interest. It is extremely well done, without
a shadow of sermonizing, or the least deflec tion from the smooth course of the narrative.
Probably most readers will find in the ro mance a good deal of opportunityfor thrills of
suspended interest, and also for an occasion al shiver of mild horror, and will find "Frank enstein" recalled to their minds. "Frank enstein" is the only thing in literature that
one can refer to, to give an idea of the gen eral method of Mr. Stevenson's story; but
so far does even the frightful become gen tle and graceful in his hands, that we con fess to have ourselves found it impossible to
shudder once over the experiences of Dr.
Jekyll. They are aimed as much at the reason and moral sense as at the imagination,
however; and though they do not spring up
like an ordinary tale of horrors, to haunt one
in the dark, they do remain deeply and seriously in the memory.
Another admirable novel, decidedly one
to be read, is Edward Greey's translation
from the Japanese of Bakin, 4 Captive of
Love.3 The translator calls it a paraphrase,
and the word is perhaps demanded by strict
honesty, as he has taken liberties not only in
2 Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. By
Robert Louis Stevenson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. I886. For sale in San Francisco by A. L.
Bancroft & Co.
3 A Captive of Love. By Edward Greey. Boston:
Lee & Shepard. s886. For sale in San Francisco by
Methodist Book Depository.
1886.]
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