Produced by Robert Connal, Martin Pettit and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Thisfile was produced from images generously made availableby the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) athttps://gallica.bnf.fr)
_Thomas Hill Green_
_An Estimate of The Value and Influence
Of
Works of Fiction In Modern Times_
_Edited With Introduction and Notes
By
Fred Newton Scott
Professor of Rhetoric in the University of Michigan_
_George Wahr Ann Arbor Michigan 1911_
COPYRIGHT
FRED NEWTON SCOTT
1911
THE ANN ARBOR PRESSANN ARBOR, MICH.
PREFACE
_For a good many years I have used this essay of Green's with anadvanced class in the theory of prose fiction. It has worked well. Italways arouses discussion, and in doing so it has the great virtue thatit imperiously leads the argument away from superficialities and centersit upon fundamentals. Its service as a stimulus to high thinking cannoteasily be overestimated. For any student, and especially for one who hasknown only the unidea'd criticism of fiction so popular today, it is afine thing to come in contact with a high-minded, sturdy, anduncompromising thinker such as Green is. As Green says of the hearer oftragedy,_ "He bears about him, for a time at least, among the rankvapors of the earth, something of the freshness and fragrance of thehigher air." _I trust that this reprint, by making the essay more easilyaccessible than it has been heretofore, will help to raise the grade ofstudent thought and taste and criticism._
F. N. S._University of MichiganDecember 1, 1910._
CONTENTS.
PAGEIntroduction 9I. PRINCIPLES OF ART 19 a. Epic, Drama, and Novel 19 b. Imitation vs. Art 21 c. Nature the Creation of Thought 22 d. The 'Outward' aspect of Nature 23 e. Conquest of Nature by Art 24 f. The Artist as Idealizer 26 g. The Epic 27 h. Tragedy as Purifier of the Passions 29 i. Tragedy the Elevation of Life 33 j. Conditions Favorable to Tragedy 34II. THE NOVEL AN INFERIOR FORM OF ART 35 a. Beginnings of the Novel 35 b. Characteristics of the _Spectator_ 36 c. The Modern Novel a Reflection of Ordinary Life 38 d. Naturalism vs. Idealism 43 e. Tragedy and the Novel 44 f. The Epic and the Novel 47 g. Poetry and Prose 49 h. The Novel an Incomplete Presentation of Life 52 i. Prudence the Novelist's Highest Morality 54 j. Evil Effects of Novel-reading 56III. TRUE FUNCTION OF THE NOVEL 60 a. A Widener of Experience 60 b. An Expander of Sympathies 63 c. A Creator of Public Sentiment 69 d. A Leveller of Intellects 69
APPENDIX.
a. An Appreciation of Green's Essay 72 b. Hegel on the Novel 77
INTRODUCTION
Thomas Hill Green was born in Birkin, Yorkshire, April 7, 1836. Hisearly education was acquired first at home under his father, the rectorof Birkin, then at Rugby, where he was sent at the age of fourteen. In1855 he entered Balliol College, Oxford, and came under the influence ofJowett, afterwards famous as Master of Balliol and translator of Plato.Though he matured early, Green was not a brilliant student. On thecontrary, he appeared to be indolent and sluggish. "No man," wrote oneof his fellow-students in 1862, "is driven with greater difficulty towork not to his taste.... He wrote some of the best college essays: henever sent them in on the right day, and might generally be seen on theMonday pondering over essays which every one else had sent in on theFriday night." These traits, however, as it proved later, were the indexnot of a vagrant mind, but of independence of thought and ofpreoccupation with weightier matters. To quote again from the tribute ofa fellow-student: "On everything he said or wrote there was stamped theimpress of a forcible individuality, a mind that thought for itself,and whose thoughts had the rugged strength of an original characterwherein grimness was mingled with humor, and practical shrewdness with alove for abstract speculation." In the end, his solid qualities of mindand character made so strong an impression upon the Universityauthorities that in 1860 he was elected fellow of Balliol. At the sametime he became lecturer on ancient and modern history. Though from thebeginning of his student life he had been drawn to an academic careerand especially to the study of philosophy, he was now for a periodundecided what to make his life-work. At one time he thought of goinginto journalism in India. In 1864, having accepted a place with theRoyal Commission on Middle Class Schools, he prepared a valuable reportupon the organization of high schools and their relation to theuniversity. Finally, however, in 1866, his indecision was brought to anend. Obtaining an appointment in that year to a position on the teachingstaff of Balliol College, he settled down to the work of a tutor inphilosophy. When Jowett was made Master of Balliol, Green became, underhim, the responsible manager of the college, performing the manifoldsmall duties of the position with patience, thoroughness, and tact.
In 1871 he was married to Miss Charlotte Symonds, sister of JohnAddington Symonds.
Twice Green was candidate for a professorship; once in 1864 when heapplied for the chair of moral philosophy at St. Andrews, and again in1867 when the Waynflate professorship of moral and metaphysicalphilosophy fell vacant at Oxford. In both cases he was unsuccessful. Itwas not until 1878, by his election to the Whyte's professorship ofmoral philosophy, that he obtained the position and the independence hehad long deserved. His enjoyment of the honor was brief. He died ofblood-poisoning, after an illness of only ten days, March 26, 1882.
Green's character was compounded of a variety of elements. The shynessand reserve characteristic of many cultivated Englishmen, wasaccentuated in his case by a natural austerity and an absorption inserious thought. But though his temper was puritanic and inclined tomoroseness, there was no sourness or cynicism in it. "If," he wrote toMiss Symonds, "I am rather a melancholy bird, given to physical fatigueand depression, yet I have never known for a moment what it was to beweary of life, as the youth of this age are fond of saying that theyare. The world has always seemed very good to me." Grim though he mightbe outwardly, he had a keen sense of humor and a warmth of interest inhis fellows that made him, for those who broke through his reserve, acharming companion. His most characteristic quality was elevation ofmind. In the essay that is here reprinted he speaks of "that aspiringpride which arises from the sense of walking in intellect on the necksof a subject crowd." Something of this elevation, this aloofness fromthe vulgar, characterized all of his utterances and gave to them attimes a solemn fervency akin to that of the Hebrew prophets. This traitis finely portrayed in the following description of the tutor Grey (athin disguise for Green) in Mrs. Ward's 'Robert Elsmere:'
Green's contributions to philosophy were partly constructive, partly(and perhaps mainly) critical and destructive. On the critical side, hisgreatest effort was his attack upon the philosophy of Hume in twomasterly Introductions to an edition of Hume's 'Works,' published in1874-5. English philosophical thinking, so Green held, had stuck fastin the scepticism of Hume. Such forward movement in thought as there hadbeen since the 18th Century, had come mainly through the writings of menlike Wordsworth and Shelley--men who having seen deeply into life, hadexpressed themselves in imaginative, not in philosophical ways. To setthe stagnant tide of speculative thinking in motion, involved a two-foldtask: on one side the breaking down of the barriers erected by thesensationalist and materialist schools of the 17th and 18th centuries,and on the other side the letting in of a current of fresh ideas fromsome source outside of England. The first, or destructive, task Greenperformed with remarkable success in the two Introductions. For the newand truer ideas which were to displace the old, he naturally looked toGermany, whose methods of research were just coming into vogue at Oxfordthrough the influence of Pattison and Jowett. And since to speculativethinkers of that time German philosophy meant the philosophy of Hegel,Green's fundamental conceptions were derived by Hegelian modes ofthinking. In other words, he was a neo-Hegelian. But, as his biographernotes, he never committed himself unreservedly to the Hegelian credo."While he regarded Hegel's system as the 'last word of philosophy,' hedid not occupy himself with the exposition of it, but with thereconsideration of the elements in Kant of which it was thedevelopment." That is, he was a neo-Kantian as well as a neo-Hegelian.Of his constructive thinking in these channels the most completeembodiment is his 'Prolegomena to Ethics.'
Though naturally his contributions to philosophy are first in bulk andimportance, Green's writings cover a considerable range of subjects.Listed in the order of publication, they are as follows: 'The Force ofCircumstances,' published in _Undergraduate Papers_, 1858; 'An Estimateof the Value and Influence of Prose Fiction,' published as a prizeessay, 1862; 'The Philosophy of Aristotle' and 'Popular Philosophy inits relation to Life,' _North British Review_, Sept., 1866, and March,1868; Introductions to 'Hume's Treatise of Human Nature' 1874-5; 'TheGrading of Secondary Schools,' _Journal of Education_, May, 1877; Reviewof E. Caird's 'Philosophy of Kant,' _Academy_, Sept. 22, 1877; 'Mr.Spencer on the Relations of Subject and Object,' _Contemporary Review_,Dec., 1877; 'Mr. Spencer on the Independence of Matter,' _ibid._, March,1878; 'Mr. Lewes' Account of Experience,' _ibid._, July, 1878; review ofJ. Caird's 'Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion,' _Academy_, July10, 1880; 'Answer to Mr. Hodgson,' _Contemporary Review_, January, 1881;review of J. Watson's 'Kant and his English Critics,' _Academy_,September 17, 24, 1881; 'Liberal Legislation and Freedom of Control,'1881; 'The Work to be done by the New Oxford High School,' 1882;'Prolegomena to Ethics,' 1883; 'The Witness of God' and 'Faith'(delivered in 1870 and 1877, and at the time printed for privatecirculation), 1884.
All of the foregoing, with the exception of the 'Prolegomena to Ethics,'are included in the 'Works' edited by R. L. Nettleship (3 Vols., 1885,2d Ed. 1889, Longmans). The 'Works' contain, in addition, the followingwritings not previously published: An essay on 'The Influence ofCivilization on Genius'; an essay on 'Christian Dogma'; an article on'Mr. Lewes' Account of the Social Medium,' written for the _ContemporaryReview_, but not used; four lectures or addresses on the New Testament;four lectures on 'The English Commonwealth'; a series of lectures on'The Philosophy of Kant,' on 'Logic' and on 'The principles of PoliticalObligations'; a lecture on 'The Different Senses of Freedom as Appliedto Will and to the Moral Progress of Man'; and a fragment on'Immortality.'
Aside from occasional references to poetry and art in his philosophicalwritings, as, for example, in the opening paragraphs of the'Prolegomena,' the essay on fiction here reprinted is Green's onlyventure in the field of aesthetic criticism. When we remember that itwas one of his earliest productions, having been submitted for theChancellor's prize in 1862, when Green was but 26 years of age, thematurity of both style and contents seems remarkable. It is in fact amonumental piece of literary criticism, sufficient to establish thereputation of many a lesser writer. At the same time, however, there isabout it an air of constraint which shows that the author was not atease in this kind of speculation. He was fencing, so to speak, with hisleft hand. His mind was so absorbed in the metaphysical, ethical, andreligious aspects of experience that upon the aesthetic as such he hadlittle attention to bestow. When he approached aesthetic problems at allit was for the purpose of obtaining data which he could employ in otherfields of thought. He was obviously not in sympathy with the aims ofEnglish novelists. He had no expert knowledge of the history of fictionin England, and no knowledge at all, so far as appears, of its historyin other countries. Probably he misunderstood the relation, in certainparticulars, of the novel to the epic. Nevertheless, his appreciation ofconcrete works of art was so genuine and profound, his insight so clear,his expressed judgments so candid, that any contact of his mind withart, literary or other, could not fail to be illuminating. Whatever itslimitations, the essay has at least one distinguishing merit: in it afundamental principle of criticism is applied with merciless rigor tothe solution of a literary problem. The products of such a method arecertain to be interesting and valuable. Whether we agree with theauthor's conclusions or not, we can at least see whence he derives themand feel the stimulus which always comes from the spectacle of apowerful mind grappling in deadly earnest with momentous questions ofart and life.
AN ESTIMATE of the Value and Influence of Works of Fiction in Modern Times
I. PRINCIPLES OF ART
A. EPIC, DRAMA, AND NOVEL
1. We commonly distinguish writings which appeal directly to theemotions from those of which the immediate object is the conveyance ofknowledge, by applying to the former a term of conveniently loosemeaning, "works of imagination." Of the kinds included in the widedenotation of this term there are three, between which it seemsdifficult at first sight to draw a definite line; which appeal tosimilar feelings, and excite a similar interest, in the different agesto which each is appropriate. These are the epic poem, the drama, andthe novel. Each purports to be, in some sort, a reflex of human life andaction, as obeying certain laws and tending to a certain end. In eachmen are represented, not as at rest, or in contemplative isolation, butin co-operation or collision. In each there is a combination of twoelements, an outer element of incident, an inner of passion andcharacter. In view of these common features, we might be tempted atfirst sight to suppose the difference between the three kinds to bemerely one of form, merely the difference between the vehicle of proseand the vehicle of metre. We shall find, however, on deeper inquiry,that to the true artist, who does not find his materials in the world,but creates them according to the inner laws by which the world andhimself are governed, the vehicle is not more a part of his creationthan the "impassioned truth" which it conveys. Here, as elsewhere, formand substance are inseparable; and the difference of form thatdistinguishes the novel from the other kinds of composition which itseems for the present to have superseded, symbolises, or rather isidentical with, a different potency in the art by which the substance iscreated.[1]
FOOTNOTE:
[1] "Though in its most general sense the substance and matter of allfine art is the same
, issuing from the common source of the human desirefor expression, yet the region of fancy corresponding to each medium ofutterance is molded by intercourse with that medium, and acquires anindividuality which is not directly reducible to terms of any otherregion of aesthetic fancy. Feeling, in short, is modified in becomingcommunicable; and the feeling which has become communicable in music isnot capable of re-translation into the feeling which has becomecommunicable in painting. Thus the arts have no doubt in common a humanand even rational content--rational in so far as the feelings which areembodied in expression, for expression's sake, arise in connection withideas and purposes; but each of them has separately its own peculiarphysical medium of expression and also a whole region of modifiedfeeling or fancy which constitutes the material proper to be expressedin the medium and according to the laws of each particular art."--B.Bosanquet, 'The Relation of the Fine Arts to One Another' (_Proceedingsof the Aristotelian Society_).
B. IMITATION vs. ART
2. Mere copying is not art. The farther the artist rises above the stageof imitation, the higher is his art, the more elevating its influence onthose who can enter into its spirit. If the landscape-painter doesnothing more than represent nature as seen by the outward eye, thevulgar objection against looking at pictures--"I can see as fine a viewas this any day"--is unquestionably valid. But if the painter isanything better than a photographer, he does far more than this. Hebrings nature before us, as we have seen it, perhaps, only once or twicein our lives, under the influence of some strong emotion. He does thatfor us which we cannot do for ourselves; he reproduces those moments ofspiritual exaltation in which "we feel that we are greater than weknow"--moments which we can remember, and of which the mere memory maybe the light of our lives, but which no act of our own will can bringback. It is not till the distinction has been appreciated between natureas it is and nature as we make it to be, between that which we see andthat which "having not seen we love," that any branch of art can bereckoned in its proper value.
An Estimate of the Value and Influence of Works of Fiction in Modern Times Page 1
