Recent Fiction [pp. 99-109]

104 Recent Fiction. [July
teristic taste of the nation. Yet one finds, genieff. He is leisurely, diffuse, and ver
even in popular writings like Octave Feuil- quiet. Anna A'arenina rounds itself out i
let's, indications of the same thing: strong time into a complete and tragic story, bu
colors, extreme situations, cruelty rather than not until it has traversed a wide area out c
pathos, must be used to sting to activity the the whole field of human life. It is not
laggard sensibility. Alielle has no physical book for people to read who are in a hurry
cruelty or coarseness; but a young wife in it It seems to imply a people of a great leisure
dies under an even cruelly pitiful accumula- instead of the feverishly excited, turbulen
tion of circumstances, more appropriate to a impatient people one would expect to fin
grave tragedy than to so light a story. the intelligent, reading Russians, from Tu
Though light in manner, however, the story genieff. It is infinitely sincere, serious, an
seems to have a serious motive; and this artless; not critical, like Turgenieff, nor s
seems to be, to demonstrate the necessity of tirical. One would guess that the autho
religious training for women. A man, the had no theories at all about art, but simpl
author seems to believe, may be reasonably put people and life in as he saw them. Tu
kind and honorable without any creed; but genieff describes Russians as Russians; h
a woman, even though brought up in the stands off, like an outside observer, and see
"religion of humanity," will be little less national traits and peculiarities, and bring
than a fiend without an orthodox theology. them out forcibly. Tolstoi takes them as
This is, of course, a very common view, but matter of course, and writes of them as if the
it need scarcely be said-founded more on were no people but Russians in the world
theory than observation. The grace and the reader has to infer for himself, from th
skill with which the story is brought out are data given quite incidentally, what is Ru
not to be disregarded, nor the intelligence of sian nature, and what human nature, wh
passing observation. is local custom, and what is the univers
The translation of Anna Kareninal is from habit of the civilized world. In the or
the French, but revised by reference to the matter of the problem of agricultural labo
original Russian. It is heavily sprinkled the author takes pains to urge that cond
with untranslated Russian words-too heav- tions in Russia are different from those th
ily for comfort in reading, for many of them exist in other couutries; but even then, E
seem quite unnecessary. So far as the read- does not bring out specific differences. A
er can perceive, exact equivalents exist in this makes his work more like life tha
English; or if there is some shade of mean- Turgenieff's. Less great, we think no or
ing in them not to be expressed by the Eng- can fail to say: altogether wanting in th
lish equivalent, it would seem as if little was vast and gloomy power, that tragic forc
gained by holding on to a form in which no that makes each book of the great Russia
one who does not read Russian can perceive novelist remain on the memory like the im