Page:Southern Life in Southern Literature.djvu/529

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NOVELISTS AND STORY WRITERS

About 1875 there began to appear in Northern magazines sketches and short stories by Southern writers which betokened the beginning of a new development in Southern fiction. With the passing of the old generation of fiction writers, the historical romance imitating Scott or Cooper and the crudely humorous character sketch disappeared. Their places were taken by the work of the new group of writers, who dealt in a realistic way with the various phases of Southern life. The difference between the old and the new fashion in fiction was expressed in the remark of John Esten Cooke, shortly before his death, about the new school: "They see, as I do, that fiction should faithfully reflect life, and they obey the law, while I was born too soon, and am now too old to learn my trade anew." The new group of writers opened their eyes to the abundant material in the South calling for interpreters. One of their number has said:

"Never in the history of the country has there been a generation of writers who came into such an inheritance of material." This was true; for the antebellum writers, with the exception of the humorists, had their sight obscured by the supposed uniformity of Southern life to such an extent that they failed to appreciate the wealth of picturesque material at hand. But the vanishing of the old feudal system with its attendant spirit of caste revealed more clearly than before the variety of type in Southern life, and writers began to realize the value of this material. Thus the Creole of Louisiana, the mountaineer of the Appa lachians, the " cracker " of Georgia, the inhabitants of the blue-grass region of Kentucky, the negro all these and others found their observant interpreters. This group of writers of fiction have been distinguished from their predecessors by regard for careful, artistic workmanship. In their work is to be found little of the carelessness that mars the work of the older school even in its best representatives, as, for instance, Simms and Longstreet. In ideals of craftsmanship the newer writers have been followers of Poe, the result being carefulness of structure and regard for distinction of style. Their success in the short story with local color has been marked enough to command the respect of the country at large. But when these writers have turned from fiction of this shorter compass to that of the scope of the novel they have frequently shown a weakness in structure that has marred somewhat their achievement in this form.