" But for all that the incident is crude, harsh, and needlessly
revolting. In Russia it might have happened; but I am inclined to doubt
if a Norwegian gentleman, even though he were descended from the
untamable Kurts, would have been capable of so outrageous a breach of
decency.
Apart from this incident, "Absalom's Hair" is so interpenetrated with a
sense of reality that we seem to live the story rather than read it. I
verily believe it to be a type of what the fiction of the future will
be, when scientific education shall have been largely substituted for
the classical; and even the novelists will be expected to know something
about the world in which they live and the sublime and inexorable laws
which govern it. At present the majority of them spin irresponsible
yarns, and play Providence _ad libitum_ to their characters. Man's vital
coherence with his environment is but loosely indicated. Chance reigns
supreme. They have observed carefully enough the external phenomena of
life--and chiefly for their picturesque or dramatic interest--but of the
causes which underlie them they rarely give us a glimpse.
Pages:
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144