"In the Sabine Mountains" (1871),
the scene of which is laid in Genazzano during the struggle for Italian
independence, is a trifle too prolix; and its effect is lessened by the
old-fashioned epistolary form. Signor Carnevale, the revolutionary
apothecary, is, however, a very amusing figure, and would be still
better if he were not caricatured. The tendency to screw the characters
up above the normal--to tune them up to concert pitch as it
were--interferes seriously with the pleasure which the book otherwise
might yield.
The conception of art as something wholly distinct from and above nature
animates all Bergsoee's productions. The theory of fiction which R. L.
Stevenson has so eloquently propounded has found an able practitioner in
him. For all that, I am indebted to Bergsoee's two Italian romances for
a great deal of enjoyment, the afterglow of which still warms my memory.
But that was long ago. A young man is apt to enjoy in a book quite as
much what he himself supplies as that which the author has deposited
therein.
Pages:
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241