Life — June 10, 1886 — page 6: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

* LIFE «= AN IMPRESSIONIST NOVEL. SERIES of vague and sombre pictures, glimpses through the mist of those simple yet tremendous forces which give to life its form and meaning, fragments and wrecks of lives swept along on a mighty current-—all these are found in Arthur S. Hardy’s novel, “ The Wind of Destiny.” (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.) The trivial incidents, the outward appearances, the things that seem, which we call life or use as algebraic terms to ex- press that unknown and indefinite quantity, are ignored by this artist. He would paint you an impression of the real thing, the soul-tragedy with which poverty or riches, ugliness or beauty, obscurity or fame have nothing to do. The result is not a novel which can be judged by the ordi- nary standards, . * * “cc NOTHING moves of itself since the dance began ; nothing swerves but by collision; others thou shalt drive, and they thee; but thyself never ;” and again, “We live, bat-like, in gloom, and our impuissance is our power”—this is the motive of the story, appearing again and again in the fragments of lives which drift together by some blind fate, jostle each other out of their orbits and then vanish in the darkness. This is a depressing subject. From the beginning to the end of the story life after life is wrecked when happiness seems just in view. To one only of the four genera- tions of characters to which we are introduced does happiness come, and that by the same blind chance which had so often decreed misery. * . . HIS is truth, but not all of the truth. If there were nothing in life but the affections, then the whole truth would have been told. The weak point in every character drawn in this book is, that its entire happiness is made to de- pend on some one else. A view of life such as this is essen- tially feminine. It.needs the masculine view to complete the picture—the strong hand of Reason on the helm and the ship beating up against the “ Wind of Destiny.” . . . HE charm of the book is the condensed and melodious style, which avoids all harsh words and superfluous adjectives. Metaphors gleam on every page and make hasty generalizations seem to be solemn truths. ‘ Every life is strewn with the ruins or haunted by the visions of habitations built in its morning ;” “ If a man be absolutely just, he will be absolutely merciless; ‘ What a fine world, forsooth, would this be, if reason could rule passion, and experience clip the wings of desire ;" “ Without fools there would be no trage- dies ;" “ Between dreaming and living there is a gulf fixed ; "— thus the oracle speaks, as though making a new revelation. But life is not a formula, and a novel should be a picture of life. RS. HOMER MARTIN'S novel, “Whom God Hath Joined,” is theological and emotional by turns, run- ning the scale from Methodism to Romanism and from happy love to bigamy and suicide. The views of religion and life are alike distorted and wholly weak. The construc- tion is feeble and the dialogue without sparkle. (Henry Holt & Co.) Droch. « NEW BOOKS «+ R. ISAACS. By F. Marion Crawford. Macmillan's Summer Reading Series. No Saint, “By Adeline Sergeant. Henry Holt & Co. The Wind of Destiny. By Arthur Sherburne Hardy. Mifflin & Co, Lyrics of Life. By John G. Wilson. Claxton Book Concern (Limited). Houghton, DEFINITIONS. Navy—A Potomac legend ; a fabulous tradition connected with marine affairs. Matn—Prize fight between armored roosters. Vase—A Chinese toy of variable value; the same vase sometimes varying in value from $1.37}4 to $18,000, accord- ing to geographical location. BELLE—Daughter of wealthy parents. AuBURN—Color of a rich redheaded girl's hair. SweLL—A shrunken young man. SPORT IN THE WEST. Voice from above: Hi, TOM! TIE THE ROPE AROUND YOUR WAIST AND I'LL PULL YOU UP, MAKE HASTE, OLD FELLOW, THERE'S A GRIZZLY DOWN THERE! 2 comicbooks.com