It is during this era, however, that we find indications of a deplorable tendency on the part of the good doctor to pander1 to the prejudices of the gas-fitter and the paper-hanger element, by the publication of stories and articles which were either spurious as literature or else absolutely mendacious2 as to the facts which they[Pg 48] recorded and the scenes which they described.
Of course I do not pretend that literary mendacity began under Dr. Holland, for the Ledger3 school was a highly imaginative one, at best; but the vein4 of untruth which is found cropping out from time to time during the eighth decade has proved infinitely5 more harmful to modern literature than were the lurid6 and confessedly improbable tales of bandits and haunted castles and splendid foreign noblemen which found so many eager readers a score of years ago. The aristocratic circles of English society which were enlivened by the nebulous presence of Lady Chetwynde’s spectre were so far removed from those in which the spellbound hay-maker, who read about them, had his being that it made very little difference to him—or to literary art either—whether they were truthfully portrayed8 or not; but the mendacious and meretricious[Pg 49] literature which we find in the Holland period is more pretentious9 in its imitation of truth, and therefore all the more dangerous.
It was within a year after the first number of Scribner’s had been issued that Dr. Holland began the publication of a series of papers, afterward10 printed in book form, which deserve special mention here because they are so thoroughly11 characteristic of the period in which they saw the light. They are known to the world as Back-log Studies, and the average reader of ordinary intelligence will tell you that Mr. Warner’s book is “delightful reading,” that he possesses a “dainty style,” and that his studies of the open fireplace are “fresh, original, and altogether charming.”
Now did you ever happen to read The Reveries of a Bachelor? If you did you will admit that there was very little left in an open fire when Ik Marvel12 got[Pg 50] through with it; and if you have also read Back-log Studies in the conscientious13, critical way in which all books should be read, then you will agree with me in my opinion that Mr. Warner found very little to say about it that had not already been much better said by Marvel.
The book is neither fresh nor original nor charming, but it imitates those qualities so artistically15 and successfully that it has won for itself a unique place in the literature of a period in which the Ledger and the Holland schools of fiction may be said to have struggled for the supremacy16.
I do not call Back-log Studies mendacious. They are merely imitative, and deserve mention here only because they were put together with so much cleverness that nearly the whole of the reading public has been deluded17 into believing them wholly original and of a high order of merit.
[Pg 51]In a previous chapter I have cited certain glaring examples of mendacity that occurred during the Holland period; but none of them deserves to rank, in point of barefaced18 and unscrupulous perversion19 of facts, with Abbott’s Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, published in Harper’s Magazine years before Dr. Holland became the leading figure in American letters, which he was during the seventies. Nor should we lose sight of the fact that the present literary age has given birth to no end of stories and novels and descriptive articles which are disgracefully mendacious in color, fact, and sentiment.
But if you, my dear reader, would like to see a descriptive article which is absolutely matchless in point of mendacity and asinine20 incompetency21, turn to the June Scribner’s of 1875—the very middle of the Holland age—and read what a certain Mr. Rhodes has to say about the Latin Quarter of Paris. I suppose the[Pg 52] whole world does not contain a corner that offers so much that is picturesque22, fascinating, interesting—in short, so well worth writing about—as the Quartier Latin in the French capital.
At the time this article was printed there were dozens of clever young men—Bohemians, poets, and humorists of the class that used to gather in Pfaff’s of a Saturday night to make merry with the “tenner” received the day before for a Ledger poem entitled “Going Home to Mother” or “Be Prepared; Bow to the Will Divine.” I doubt if we have to-day young men better equipped for the task of describing the student life of Paris than were those who dwelt in our own Bohemia in 1875. But the conductors of Scribner’s Monthly passed them by and intrusted the work to this Albert Rhodes, concerning whom history is silent, but who seems to have been more incompetent23 and more unworthy of his great opportunity[Pg 53] than any human being on the face of the earth.
What shall we say of a man who quotes one of the best things in the Scènes de la Vie de Bohême and then blandly24 remarks that he does not see anything funny in it?
That is precisely25 what Mr. Rhodes does. He prints the program of the soirée given by Rodolphe and Marcel, and then observes, with the solemnity of a Central Park pelican26: “There is nothing very humorous in this, as will be observed, and yet it may be regarded as one of the best specimens27 of Murger’s genre28.”
Well, I can inform Mr. Rhodes, and also the simple-minded folk who believed in him because he wrote for the magazines, that if that chapter of the Vie de Bohême is not funny, there is nothing funny in the world. It begins with the “opening of the salons29 and entry and promenade30 of the witty31 authors of the[Pg 54] Mountain in Labor32, a comedy rejected by the Odéon Théatre,” and closes with the significant warning that “persons attempting to read or recite poetry will be cast into outer darkness.”
The gifted Mr. Rhodes was probably in doubt as to the humor of this passage because it is not prefixed with “Our friend K—— sends the ‘Drawer’ the following good one,” and because its point is not indicated by italics after the fashion of humor of the Ayer’s Almanac school; but he can rest assured that that brief quotation33 from Murger is the funniest thing in his essay, always excepting his own bovine34 lack of perception. It is particularly funny to me because I have sometimes witnessed the “entry and promenade” through the salons of the witty authors of stories that have been accepted by magazines—a spectacle calculated to produce prolonged and hilarious35 merriment—and I have often wished[Pg 55] that the recitation clause in the Bohemian’s program could be enforced in every house in the town.
I have devoted36 a good deal of space to this long-forgotten article because it is a fair sample of the sort of stuff that is offered to us from time to time, prepared especially for us, like so much baby’s food, by men and women who are carefully selected by the magazine barons37, and who generally rival Mr. Rhodes in point of simian38 incompetence39 and utter lack of all appreciative40 or perceptive41 qualities.
But let us turn from the awful spectacle of Mr. Rhodes standing42 like a lone43 penguin44 in the very midst of the Latin Quarter of Paris, and wailing45 mournfully about the poor girl who “sometimes compels the young man to marry her.” A far brighter picture is that presented by the distinguished46 English gentleman who, having won the highest distinction with his pencil, takes up his pen with the air[Pg 56] of one who is enjoying a holiday fairly earned by a lifetime of toil47, and portrays48 the real Quartier Latin of the Second Empire with a humor that makes us think of Henri Murger, and with a delicacy49 of touch, a human sympathy, and a tendency to turn aside and moralize that place him very near to Thackeray.
If you wish to read a story which is at once human, truthful7, and interesting, read George Du Maurier’s “Trilby,” and note the skill with which he has caught the very essence of the spirit of student life, preserved it for a third of a century, and then given it to us in all its freshness, and with the fire of an artistic14 youth blended with the philosophy and worldly knowledge that belong only to later life.
To read “Trilby” is to open a box in which some rare perfume has been kept for thirty odd years, and to drink in the fragrance50 that is as pervading51 and strong and exquisite52 as ever.
[Pg 57]And while we are enjoying this charming story, let us not forget to give thanks to the Harpers for the courage which they have shown in publishing it, for if there is anything calculated to injure them in the eyes of the gas-fitters and paper-hangers it is a novel in which the truth is told in the high-minded, cleanly, and straightforward53 fashion in which Mr. Du Maurier tells it here. Fancy the feelings of a Christian54 Endeavorer—the modern prototype of the Levite who passed by on the other side—on finding in a publication of the sort which he has always found as soothing55 to his prejudices and hypocrisy56 and pet meannesses as the purring of a cat on a warm hearthstone—fancy the feelings of such an one as he finds the mantle57 of charity thrown over the sins and weaknesses of the erring58, suffering, exquisitely59 human Latin Quarter model.
One need not read more than a single[Pg 58] instalment of “Trilby” to realize that its author never learned the trade of letters in either the Ledger primary school or the Dr. Holland academy, for there is scarcely a chapter that does not fairly teem60 with matter that has long been forbidden in all well-regulated magazine offices, and I know that a great many experienced manufacturers of and dealers61 in serial62 fiction believe that it marks a new era in literature.
But to return to our sheep—and in the case of Mr. Rhodes the word is an apt one—why was that article about the Latin Quarter of Paris published?
Perhaps some of my readers think it was that the Scribner people did not know any better, or because Mr. Rhodes belonged to that “ring of favored contributors” of which one hears so much in certain artistic circles. In reply, let me say that the “ring of favored contributors” is a myth, or at least I have never[Pg 59] been able to find reasonable proof of its existence. Magazine editors buy exactly what they consider suitable for their readers, and they buy from whoever offers what they want. If they allowed themselves to be influenced by their small personal likes and dislikes the whole literary system which they have reared would go to pieces, and some dialect-writers that I wot of would be “back on the old farm,” like the slick chaps in eight of the “Two Brothers” poems.
As for the Scribner editors “not knowing any better,” let none be deceived. They have always known a great deal more than their rejected contributors gave them credit for, and there was a distinct and vital reason for every important step that they took in building up the magnificent property now known the world over as the Century Magazine. Personally I have the highest confidence in the wisdom of the magazine barons.[Pg 60] If a barbed-wire fence is stretched across a certain pasture it is with a purpose as definite and rational as that which led Mr. Bonner to reject Jack63 Moran’s “Stepmother’s Prayer” and pay $160 for the sixteen poems about the two brothers.
No; there was something in this article that made it valuable for magazine purposes. It was well calculated to please those who revel64 in that sniveling Anglo-Saxon hypocrisy and humbug65 about British virtue66 and the wickedness of the French people. Mr. Rhodes was employed by Dr. Holland because he was probably the only living creature who could stand on the spot from which has come so much that has made the world brighter and better and happier, and utter his silly platitudes67 about “young men draining the cup of pleasure to the dregs.” I say that the editor of Scribner’s had just as good a reason for publishing the Quartier[Pg 61] Latin essay as Mr. Bonner had for being “down on stepmothers” and refusing all poems that treated of them: Dr. Holland was down on grisettes.
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1
pander
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| v.迎合；n.拉皮条者，勾引者；帮人做坏事的人 | |
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mendacious
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| adj.不真的，撒谎的 | |
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ledger
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| n.总帐，分类帐；帐簿 | |
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vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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7
truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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portrayed
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| v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画 | |
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9
pretentious
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| adj.自命不凡的，自负的，炫耀的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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12
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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artistically
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| adv.艺术性地 | |
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supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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deluded
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| v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
barefaced
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| adj.厚颜无耻的，公然的 | |
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19
perversion
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| n.曲解；堕落；反常 | |
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20
asinine
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| adj.愚蠢的 | |
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21
incompetency
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| n.无能力，不适当 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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incompetent
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| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
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blandly
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| adv.温和地，殷勤地 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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pelican
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| n.鹈鹕，伽蓝鸟 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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genre
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| n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格 | |
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salons
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| n.（营业性质的）店( salon的名词复数 )；厅；沙龙（旧时在上流社会女主人家的例行聚会或聚会场所）；（大宅中的）客厅 | |
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promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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bovine
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| adj.牛的；n.牛 | |
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hilarious
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| adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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barons
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| 男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨 | |
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38
simian
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| adj.似猿猴的；n.类人猿，猴 | |
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incompetence
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| n.不胜任，不称职 | |
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40
appreciative
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| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
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41
perceptive
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| adj.知觉的，有洞察力的，感知的 | |
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42
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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43
lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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penguin
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| n.企鹅 | |
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45
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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46
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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47
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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48
portrays
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| v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 )；描述；描绘；描画 | |
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49
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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50
fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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51
pervading
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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52
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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53
straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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54
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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55
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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56
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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57
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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58
erring
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| 做错事的，错误的 | |
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59
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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60
teem
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| vi.(with)充满，多产 | |
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61
dealers
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| n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者 | |
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62
serial
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| n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的 | |
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63
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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64
revel
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| vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢 | |
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65
humbug
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| n.花招，谎话，欺骗 | |
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66
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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67
platitudes
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| n.平常的话，老生常谈，陈词滥调( platitude的名词复数 )；滥套子 | |
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