BEAUTY AND SANITY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 615, 18 September 1909, Page 9

BEAUTY AND SANITY.

■ ■ . - An excellent review of Vernon "Launif .. - Nobiiis'' : :by-- the ."Westminster' 'Gazette" calls . - for-quotation:™-— w ."What is-Beauty?' What is Instinct?.* What above all,.is Art?., These are commonplaco, im- ' ; ; -f " ,p6»sit>ie .'ojfj.the l piiilistine--questioni not to be" solved, impertinences of the gamin 01 ■ ~, .'•;jjauckfiriM''bf' tH'e •'boatd'school.:'. 1 K' Art: it ,i< umnse'to r descend .to' any definition ,of funda ; on tradition; and,'-like, religion, is become a thing oi : : - trainei emotions/ of and posturings, . bf >ac^opted : : beliefs| dogmas, and. - perfect faith Yet tho lady .who. writes under the name 01 .Vernon Lee—a lady who is one of, the elect,whe ldi®lays in - her writing ' a. delicato : sense ;ahd , r . mastery of her ovrn dniicult art ot iiterary cx i ; ■" . V pi'ession—has evoked in . our minds these com . .Monplnces-of' the. -uncultured; has' set-,us tc ,pondering on tho-whats,-whys, andi wherefores . despised of tho' initiate. But, preferring jus-tioo.;-to ia. .stable;.heaven,;we must, hasten tc clear the-character'of. the authoiv and say thai itvwMjnot her intention to; arouse :theso. ques- :: . tiqns;, Indeed; she has n-short .way with philis- ' tines of every, sort, and if we are tempted—we . / . "intellectual anarchists, ornervous degenerates" —to pl*6tSst, as.sho has-supposed-to be possible, "But what if wo do not care, for white?", w< ! filid.that she is tempted to ;answor, "Get oul .. ot' the way, you wretched young people; don'l you'see that there isn't room or-time for youi posing?-' -This'answer. liaS-a'particular appli cation ; 'in "Laurus ' Nobilis,".: biit, , unhappily '.-IthqughlVernon'E'ee lias not herself, perhaps, re ■ turned it to'Hhe -inquiries of- the serioiis ant earnest sceptic, it, has been so. returned bj • ■ others-who''-.are;on the side .of the angels ir ■ . this matter, and .'we, cannot; help, feeling tlial . we. ioo, shall fall under Hie shadow of her dis ' V condemned to!some,fuliginous : obscur lty.- And all for a. sense of .logic which Vernor Loe tells us is but'a form of congruity. To justify our sense of congruity wo ftiitsl - ' resort first to quotation, a for argument, and lest there be any 'misappre hension, we must,, explain that "Laurtis No bi)ts," the-Bay Laurel,;which, for, brevity,. w< • '.•!••• have hero .paraphrased -and of loosely, a: ffAi-t," stands ; *u[)'tho'.".".varioui . . of .things tmade by; nature'or madi ■-•'by':man,-intended, merely, for tile,:purpose, 01 ; 'subserving by' mere, coincidence)"—oll page 25! * V«rnon Jxo says,. "There'may be coincidence! ' ■ and accidents in other matters, but'there ari nono in Art"—"which minister to our organii iv. . and many-sided aesthetic instincts; the thing!

affecting us in that absolutely special, unmistakable, .and hitherto hiysterious. niaiiner, expressed in-pur finding them beautiful.' This constitutes our first .quotation." 'Wo proceed to further definitions thus: "Great Art makes, by' coincidence, tho same demands as noblo thinking-,and acting"; "All Art which is organic, short of which it cannot be efficient, depends upon tradition"; "Art cannot bo enjoyed without initiation and training"; "Attention (in-matters appertaining to Art) requires ithat its ways should have been made smooth-'tby. repetition, of similar experience;.it is excluded, rebutted by tho dead-wall of utter, novelty.'-.- . . This will explain why it is useless- trying- to enjoy a totally' unfamiliar kind dfi'.art..:.' These quotations are'all con-sistontf-.all tell the same well-known story in. clear, well-chosen language. A true-apprecia-. tion of Art, we gather, is only possiblo to the initiate, to him who has been trained ,to admirel the right thing, to him who can acceptwithout cavil; such a dictum as the following: "The beauty of a fifteenth-century painting is a'visible quality, a quality of the distribution of masses, tho arrangement of space, above all the lines of a picture. But it is independent of the fact of the object represented being or not what in real Hie wo should judge beautiful. ,•' ..-.'' .The convert to the tradition; theory bows his head, and accepts the fact that, such and such a thing is'- beautiful Thereafter ho bends his mind to the belief and accepts it, as he might embrace the principles of Calvinism or Theosophy, and by virtue of thinking always the same thoughts loses all. hypocrisy and finds beauty in that which, before his .conversion he .would have rieglectcd-or "condemned. But there is another aspect in "Laurus Nobilis ;_let-us'-return :'to our;quotations: "To appreciate any-kind of Arrmeans, after all, not.to under- , stand its relations with other kinds' of'Artbut to feel , its relations with ourselves.. 'The desire for beauty, with its more potent negative, the aversion to ugliness, has, like the sense of'right and wrong, the. force of a , cate- , gorical imperative. Such, to my thinking, isthe aesthetic instinct. And I'call Art what-, over Mnd of process, intellectual and, technical, 'creates, incidentally or purposed .visible or audible forms, and creates them regulation.of this aesthetic instinct." Neither the .'desire for making'a mark, nor the most conscientious pressure -of formula, 'gives that instincts selection and co-ordination characterising even the most rudimentary/artistic efforts in the most- barbarous ages, whon : men are impelled merely and solely by. the a&thetio instinct." .Now-putting aside.tho • essential -contradiction ■■■. between the spirit of the V first of these later quotations and that of the former one beginning. ■ Atten-. tiaa' requires that its,waya should-have been niado smooth by repetition experi-, ence"—let us see if we have not here .a separate" and, distinct .theory of the power of apprehending the beautiful." For it would seem that, man'may even create, works of art by an in-; stiiiot of selection and co-ordination;; much more, then, niay he recognise them.- Moreover* the whole spirit of the. passage leading up to this quotation is 'in:- the samo key, _a : reiteration- 'Of the- necessity for the. exercise, of the aesthetic instinct. Yet can we train and educate an instinct? , ; We may develop it, .but that is. , another, matter. This is no'playing with words, but an essential,.fundamental difference, affe'ctinET the whole question, and it,' is this wliich brings • us back to those impertinent queries with which" we opened; it is this which makes us'doubt' whether, with all her scholar-, ship; her ability, her grace of language, Vernon Lee is consistent, in, her' theory, of Art; in her: construction of,"Laurus ;Nobilis." ..-._ ;' : The: divergence would seem to lie in . this: Either there. 19 some.: abstract-. conception of. beauty of. which'we! recognise a part, or semblance, in' every work of ;true' art and...recognise-, it by instinct, by. some god-like factolty'-in-nate, an attribute of the soul; or the appreciation of beauty.is a. thing to be acquired, tobe,won by patient attention, the result of turVy'in! which: case beauty is not a constant but a variable thing, changing.with every country, poriddj-and,fashion. We cannot admit as' a third,possibility, that there, are - two: forms of heanty, one to be appreciated by naturei the other ■ by' training,,since this would '■ iniply an'-, essential contradiction , iristtmissible'by; anyone witli'a':high.ly7develo'ped. of'the , ctogruoiisi ■Wβ' ca'hnot.fielp feeling,''dcspitdVniany'jpassagos which iwould seem to indicate a leaningjtowards the "other theory, v that Vernon Lee has/decidpd in favour. of the second .hypothesis. ■ Her con-<: sho. shares with' so- many of the', initiate" in "painting,'' music, ■ letters, and ■■• the rest, ■ for' the man who "knows -what: he likes," ; is .'plain; and. it is.rio.doubt, to him , that she has. addressed much her "present work in the hope of making.him a convert:- ;We have no fault torfind-yith--hef-oa-tjtat-6coro. ■ "Wo-haVe avvarni admiration : for the spirit of the passage:, in^ J syhic,h t . < .she ai sajij^,'7<?tiU3^3 lo ' ""J* strength .-ana , leisure for .preference arid ideals prepar^jourselves -to fit,: at, leasfcjj to acnuiescej' in," 'y ine*"» changesi> wo"i.are : ''- unalSfe .to bripg.iabojit. .jiDo" let us.'. seek: our jleas^r.S-in.ltnings'jwhicM!we ; condemn! or.ro-: main" attached -, to those '.which ,are . outs only through the- imperfect; arrangement which we deplore.!'; .But-we think that-.Vernon-.Lee, if she would, achieve -.her' ambition of converting the'philistihe,'.:must: -aim . at. a greater ■ "consistency ,''and|crdsh those'feelings which induce her. in moments offnatural entWisiasm v to_ dwell, upon; aesthetic'instincts. When she. wrote,' "It is'surely- a/sign of our- weakness and barbarism' that ,we.. cannot;. imagine to-morrow as bettor than to-day," she .'expressed ■. a : thouglit , that may ; undermine .the.tradition- conservatism of.the'JaTfc'she.admires. ; .3t'.fe?ip6rhaps;' hardly necessary./it6Ypbint /otjt^that : whafeyer . our theoryr'dftart," , the.xrpator, the'artjst, nas perpetual ;traifiing: and tradition. .';• This as anpther'.need altogether.". To. him technique :is requir'etj to" render.his conceptions in a medium never -wholly' sympathetic;: but his technique, if a;language, should bo.a universal one. It ho cannot, make himself understood unless his admirers first learn his peculiar and] specialised language, it seems to us that, he is a faulty artist.'.".''.:-.";-.'• i -."■" •.. " - v '. "... :. , , ,'■■.■..-' , '-. 1 Thus, having given that hard'criticism which Lessing : has eaid should bo accorded only to those of the greatest merit; wo may finish' on a nbte-of,admiration.- : That there;is much ,to admire' and praise in ."Laurus Nobilis". must b'e-evideht:.from, what 1 we have already said, and no. cliche or mero adjectival commendation would' convey our appreciation, so woUas tho fact that-wo have found it worthy-, of dissection; "Vernon Lee v has developed a-cultured, delicate style in ; her literary, art that a beautiful medium for the. translation;, of -her many-sided and keenly apprehensive mind, and any/ book of hers is worthy not only to: be read) but to be considered .and carefully pondered. ■-..'■ .-..,_• > :" '-.. >h ■■ ,'. :