FLESHLY FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 75, 21 December 1907, Page 13

FLESHLY FICTION.

••-, v.-: /. The.-article v of "A Man' of Letters'', m tho t london- VBookhian/'i'in which "Tho Fleshly . aSchool of'.FictioftC' wijs sharplv summarv i>f which appeared in; The Dominion-• irtha?; Jjeen; commented oh'.by. sev^rah.well-.. r V \-,kripwri authors'-inHho'^ovember...number of 1 ' ■. tho "Bodk-man." ; .-fV-■ ■' i Miss .J\lario : Corelli agree's ; with; "A; Man. ofoLetters'j/!'"the;more-especially,?', she'says,; ...; V'as ii*^iQeid.ej'..T^i^.-: : --. .often ■ soiight to.' oSp're'ss in my-; own' writings, ' . . ■ notably-'so-\in .'The Sorrows of ■ iri''the- fictional; chiVracter .of 'Sybil -Elton' I . - drew :a'S:,'dark.''a. '.'•picture/ 1 as ;-1:- could; of i'a< woman's..nature,; once good -and -pure,- which 1, : had'-'lieoii'corrupted arid ruined by the read-' ing of;questionable literature.: •: . _ V. r.V >-"At--. , thd:.'sam'e 'tiriie" 'I«; : would -venture to.

rpoirit; out that the; 'Fleshly'.. School/of/Fic-:tiauVis-mainly the reading 'of the wealthy f ondv indolerit members !of . the upper- class," ■ -.Bome 'of'whom/fire.cjubbeij; the. ./smart. set.'- ■ ■••-Tho 'ladies^'6f', ' thisi .'particular -seStioh:.of 60ciety;app"ear- to.revel in ''Yahoo .'literature' '; : they talk- of it 'everywhere, and pass ; among: their . aristocratic., acquaintances - as 'something rtoo.iawful; ; my> i dear.!-Mo read it I' -.But'(hardw6rking' ; '' women,:,!,for/. v whom life; . • still :riieans simjile love/ahd:.;Mth-..ahd. duty;, /cling; to what; 'A Man of -.Letters'.' rightly ~calls_; 'the splendidly .wise 'and.lten<W-hMrted- : i-trqdition-'bf •'Sicbt.tfickona»j arid,!Thacke.ray'' -arid, always out-, the Drones, ~it' folJowsNthat where ; Bornely 'human book'-sells.' ,ai' tl/ouBatid..'.'. 11 The. .current .Press-. cannot be "exonerated;;from "blame jin'-' haraVg largely :vacated'- to', bring about' .the state of things '• of which;/A Mfth 'of Betters' so justly Complains."': '. ' ' 'i//..'. "All*ono'should ask of, realistic writers," BaysvMiss B.eatjiceiHarraden, "is that-they should be. well enough equipped with a: true knowledge 'of 'life .and of the law of pro- .. portion l . to I remember that these . vital importances,. vital' though 'they' are, 1 represent , tut.one,part of a complex whole;'and should' , therefore -not lie' allowed 'to sweep. out land- . scape, wit, playfulness.' "••••_ If it is the fact," writes. Mr: Theodore . "that many novels: of the present day are open to the charge of immorality, I cannot say that T am surprised.. ; Buch a state; of things'woiild; be" the natural outcome—the /inevitable that cynical tomper whieli is/always the note of a dccactenVtime like the present.".' - • - ... '"Among the auth'pr's whoso'works Iknow," Writes-,Mr. Robert; Hichens', "I can only' •/think, of two,v both of/them women/who ;:Secm'_to 'me deliberately to appeal 'to the base instincts of readers. And one of these two writes so weekly and badly that l ean' . hardly think .she will do 'much harm."y Mr: • Hichens : has,"never come.', across; any English to'-'the"worst<■ productions. ;, of;Octave-Miijbeairand Catulle Men'de's. .As to Zola, "he-is a very coarse, biit, I think; ;.a ■very moral writer..;.:-.; - Let there .bo' all—except for those who crave! morbidly >for impropriety.- They can satisfy ■ themselves with many .modern' French novels, or with some of the latest German' productions, which, I have been told by both I 1 renchmen and -Germans, 'outdo ■ anything ■ macceiit that, is-..issued in' Paris." /: \ •