Page:Lippincotts Monthly Magazine-25.pdf/783

 LITERATURE OF THE DAY.

774

LITERATURE OF THE DAY. Democracy: An American Novel. (Leisure ‘ into close intercourse with Ratcliffe, and Hour Series.) New York: Henry Holt who is alternately fascinated and repelled & Co. by his bold, astute and unscrupulous course. In certain directions American novel Her own conduct, and the danger of her writing has been making rapid progress of marrying Ratcliffe and becoming an instru late. Under the leadership of Mr. James ment of his ambition, arouse the solicitude and Mr. Howells it is taking on a charac of her sister and of a chivalrous friend, a ter of its own. If not yet racy and sponta Virginian of the old school, who cherishes neous, it has ceased to be nerveless and pur a secret and hopeless love for her; and the

poseless.

If it gives us no fresh, free pic

combined efforts of the two to save her from

tures of life, stamped with ﬁdelity and im- ' Ratcliﬂ'e's designs form the undercurrent of the action and bring about the dénouement. bued with charm, it has learned to work up its materials carefully, to present distinct and Among the minor characters having little or

even vivid images, and to aim at artistic ex cellence both as regards construction and in the management of details. Its improvement, in short, has been greater in form than in substance. ‘Vhat seems likely to be its dis tinguishing characteristic is a superabun

dant cleverness.

lts prevailing tone is that

of delicate satire; the characters it sets be fore us are “ studies;" the observations and dialogue are epigrammatic-, the scenes and incidents reveal not only the writer's aim,

nothing to do with the plot are a couple of foreign envoys, Lord Skye and Baron Jacobi, whose comments serve as a kind of chorus,

and Miss Virginia Dare, who typiﬁes the peculiarities of the American young lady as displayed in society at “lashington and else where.

These are sufﬁciently good elements for a story distinctively and characteristically American, and they are handled with con

but his views of things in general. There is rarely a suggestion of unconscious inspi

siderable skill. There is no lack of con tinuity in the action, no dulness in the de scriptions, no sign of languor, indecision or

ration, of a mirror-like mind reﬂecting not

want of clear perceptions in the manage

only the lines but the hues of the shapes that pass before it. Hence, while our ad

ment of the story or in the writing. The style is crisp and pointed, the conversations

miration is continually excited, we are sel dom deeply moved, seldom made grateful for

some added knowledge of human nature or some wider or warmer sympathy with its va ried ways of acting and feeling. The book before us, being neither the best nor the worst of its class, shows the merits and defects we have spoken of in about an

equal degree. Its aim, which is not well represented by its titleI is to depict the po litical society of Washington, the character

istics of the class which cabals and ma noeuvres for the possession of office and

power.

These characteristics are all em

bodied in the person of Senator Ratclilfe, the other ﬁgures of the same class, includ ing the newly-elected President, being either his tools or his victims, and much more faint ly delineated. The heroine, Mrs. Lee, is a widow, rich, reﬁned and intellectual, whose absorbed interest as a spectator brings her

are generally entertaining, there are many

vigorous sketches of characters and scenes, and many touches, if not of humor, of a piquancy that may pass for wit. Yet the general effect is far from being that of a

faithful and well-painted picture.

The lines

are hard, the coloring is cold, there is a gen

eral baldness which prevents the objects de lineated from being seen in their natural as pect and relations and producing blended impressions. Types, rather than individuals, are presented to us—salient features;instead of a phase of life with all its component parts conceived as a whole. Hence the reader's interest in the book is mainly critical. He never loses the sense of watching a perform ance.

He is amused, but he acknowledges

no illusion. His feelings are unstirred, his views, whatever they may have been, remain unmodiﬁed. He has gained no light and felt no warmth.