NOVELS AS A SEDATIVE.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 6060, 20 September 1894, Page 4

NOVELS AS A SEDATIVE.

There are thousands of men and women i who merely use novels as mental sedatives— who simply want them to steady their nerves. Almost all people who use their brains much or otherwise exhaust their nervous energies, want some form of mental sedative. Tboy oannot rest while they are doing nothing. In order to quiet the thinking organism it must be kept gently at work. -The easier and more meahanica) that work is the better, bat the mental powers must just be kept running Some people find they can get this sedative effect best from the evening papers. Sunning over a large number of meaningless paragraphs— " Double Bigamy s Speech of the Mayor "—keeps the mind occupied, and yet does not increase its exhaustion. Olhers, again, find a child's fairy story the very baafc tbiDg with whioh to rest the mind. The greater number of those who want a sedative, ci.her because they have worked their brsioß a little too much, or beoause' they have not worked them enough—both require a sedative, for m both cases the mind is m an unnatural state—find, however, that a novel is the only effective means of soothing the mind. The one thing which quiets them is a douche oi fiction. The? pour novels over themselves m a gentle stream. It is this physical need for novels which creates the novel-market, for as m the case of all other sedativec, there comes to the person who is acoustoined to osa fiction to soothe his mind, a positive craving for novels. Novels and novels m quick sac* cession, be or she must have. Benoe there is a demand for novels, good or bad, of a kind which does not obtain m other forms of literature. But to satisfy this demand for novels aß~mental Bedativos, the circulating library is an absolute neceaiity. The men and women who want at least three novels a weak- and there are pleDty of them, not to mention the large contingent of one-day»one-novel men -could never satitfy themtelves by buying novels even at 2s per novel. They could spend £15 a year on novels instead of a couple of guiaeas es they do now. But then they do not have tbe books to keep, sayß tbe novelist, full of belief m the intriosio value of his works. Unfortuoately, however, the very laat thing whioh the man who uses tbe novels aa a sedative wants ii to keep the volume on his shelves. He would as soon think of keeping empty medicine bottles When the aovel has rested bis brain, its function is performed.and as a rule be never wants to see it again— unlen, of course, it happens to be a real piece of literature acoidently used for sedative purposes* As a rule, however, the men and women who use novels as mental medicine, prefer for the purpose fiction which U Dot literature. The great n-.velß are best k pt to be enjoyed when the brain is net tirtd ■-•• hat is wanted for sedative u^es i« something b low the line of true literature. What is the kind of novel-best, suited'; for sefative purposes, is a difficult quest o , and one whioh oannot be fully answered on she present, occasion. It is as much a que*ti>n of men as of books, One man find* r st m the. "tendenciesnovel,"*netherin the tale of adventure, a third m »h «'udv of mpeners. As a rule, we shoulo «v; the*: the firm of fiction best suited' for'tle puVposee of ieepiDg the mind occupied, W yet not aciive'y at work, is the novel which it neither too clever nor too atupd—tbe h-'oV wh'ob iiin fiction what the m»n ol i. uoer te viows and moderate talents v m public life, j If tho story is too ole7er it may prove a ptia-u'-^t-"'ii stead of ft sedstiva■'■ Mr JHereaifcb'* w -r»t, f t «ii"'"'»'"» are i»r more likely to lira than to t«»t the brain. The man who wants to tackle ' Lord Ormodt and his 4.<sinta' TOuat sit up to a table and put himself mentally at attention. Even Mr Stevenson and Mr Kipling, though so alluring, are apt to stimulate too highly. On the the other hand, the sedative nos/el must not ba actively stupid. Foolishness, irrelevenoe, lsck of ooher&noe, bad grammar, are imta-its, which should have no plaoe m tbe novel whioh is meant to give rest to the mind. Tbe man who is made to grind bis teeth and mutter ' what infernal bosh !' is, not gelting bis sedative, nor it the woman soothed who is perpetually being forced to deolare that she never read suoh English. In other words there must be a pleasant flow of unimpeesioned narrative, along wbioh tbe boat of the mind must be carried without effort or fatigue. A rapid m whioh osreful steering is required, or a piece of slack water m which it is necessary to punt or to*, are equally objectionable. A- smooth current, yet with plenty of variety, is the deside ratam.