STYLE VERSUS MATTER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 639, 16 October 1909, Page 11

STYLE VERSUS MATTER.

■ Mr. Arnold Bennett (says a British-journal) is in the coveted position of being 'a "."man' who, counts" .in contemporary-'; literature. Within:the- last,-year or two he has leaped into the .'front.rank of pur .novelists and playwfights. :When. he ,'ha's something,'to say the public'pays him the, greatest'.compliment in. its power to give: it listens.to,him. If he says it',-in- - a''noyeT' the intelligent ."public, reads theripvel;' if he says it in a play somd of tho'-'in-telligent public go to see.the play, and.the rest read about it: in the newspapers.- If he it in-a' volume of' essays—well, here we are' on ground that is less sure. . Mr. Bennett's latest :work of'the kind has already appeared as, .a-, series.-of articles', in- a popular :weekly, and -thus-has -certainly, been read .far;and";wide; But'we doubt the strength of its appeal in book form.; - Taste': How to- .:Form It"' is a pleasant book to read,; full of sound and suggestive sayings.' But-Mr.Bennett'is notat his best as ah essayist. - He has a fine vision of fact and'has mastered the art of selection, but he is less" happy in, the realm of ideas.* He is immeasurably.; better as '.'an ' interpreter of life'than .'of'.literature.' 'literary .Taste,',', if one may'put it so, is a book, that is intellectually tactless. Our appreciation of its. excellent and lucid exposition-of the'literary point'.of view-.is disproportionately, marred by. Mr. Beririott's: habit of'..'setting forth; contentious' prp- . positions, or.lpropdsitions stated in .contentious terms, "it/does" not help matters that thoy are', always- expressed- in the mildest manner ;pos-' 'sible,■-.- That' in fact is what' convicts Mr.': Be'n-' nett of■,'• tactlessness,'.whilo.it acquits hijn of malice Aforethought. '.'.■';.;...-■

Take; J for.exampls,;such,a statemdrit asthis: You. cannot 'have /good '• matter with: bad r'stylo". ;;-..'< -jV-Yoti':.may :^say, superiorly,-; "He.has-ex---pressed 'himself ! :clumslly, :but I can see ywhat' hemcans;" r'By what light? "By 'Spmething in J tbe:;Woi;d6,"-.in-; the'Style.- -That something .is fins.' Moreover, if the' styld- is.! clumsy,. are -yob' sure tnat'yoiir.see what ho means?.'. You c'antiot' be- duite :sufe. j^'Ahdj ' at: any rate,; you-';cannot-

see The matter is what actually reaches you, and it must necessarily bo affected by the style. _ Here .we catch Mr. Bennett quibbling, flagrante delicto. It is a rigorous application of Plato 8 reasoning that a dog isVphilosophio" to.the extent that he knows his master. /The quality.of a style is its expressiveness, and.in this' sense every intclligiblo sentence is an example of.more or less "good' style. But good arid! bad are always relative terms. And so Mr. Bennett, is left precisely where the rest of us .are, 1 for by such qualifying phrases as "that something he confesses that a good book may be ill written. He would be a "oold man who would deny it. Demosthenes/ the stutterer, was not less'wise or patriotic than •Domosthenes, the orator.. Acts of Parliament sometimes contain excellent matter; their style is unifsrmly atrocious. VitmviuV is an informing author, but no one thinks of going to aim for Latinity.. : ':■ "■■• v - •

What- about the .converse, that good . style means' good-matter? r Mr.Bosip.rtt realises that it is implied' in;, the original -proposition,- but he-shrinks from-staling-it bluntly. He skirts round about- it,' : however, when ho denounces those who'"read an author fori the sake of'the style." These, literary, exquisites are certainly very, trying, though they caii plead the example of • Ibsen,■ who, oni any. -remark being, made on the' great IBiblt" displayed in his study, '.'.,-iaid gruffly, that."it was for'the language", it was there.' 1 . "What- oft'.was thought but ne'er.'so well expressed""is the: stylist's definition of literary excellence,' and our classics would;be appreciably fewer-if purged of all books'which hold place by right: of-style alone.. The Restoration- dramaf-for trample,-would -be-among the .first to go. :-.Congrevg..is a. v classic; T, .W. -Robertson is not, though his Work is superior, ■in;stagecraft; and 'its'.moral ..tone, ;if insipid, is eminently decent. ■' The glory, of Latin, prose, :Gic'ero, wns a fifth-rate'.thinker. Perhaps the most despicable' document in ourrlanguage, the 'dedication of the' Authorised Version, contains someof its noblest.cadettces. • ~. . ;>. •:'