A History of English Prose FictionTuckerman, Bayard
History
A History of English Prose Fiction
Tuckerman, Bayard
English fiction -- History and criticism
tapestries, with wondrous paintings, and introduced him to wondrous
dukes and duchesses, looking out from wondrous dark orbs, and breathing
through almond-shaped nostrils. He loved to bring the royal family on
the scene, and to trace the awe-inspiring effect of their august
presence. When we open a novel of d'Israeli's we are certain of moving
in a brilliant society, although one belonging to a yet undiscovered
world. Women whose political influence changes the map of Europe,
irresistible Catholic priests are mingled with impudent adventurers and
professional toad-eaters. And over every thing is cast, by d'Israeli's
Eastern imagination, a glamour of unlimited wealth, of numberless
coronets, and of soaring ambitions. The political career of the Earl of
Beaconsfield is one of the most remarkable in history, and even his
opponents cannot withhold admiration from the great abilities and
undaunted resolution which brought that career to its triumphant close.
But the novels of the Earl of Beaconsfield have little value beyond
their reflection of his dreams and his ambition.
Among the most famous writers of fiction of the nineteenth century will
always be mentioned the name of Sir Bulwer Lytton. More than any other
writer, he studied and developed the novel as a form of literature.
Almost every novelist has taken some special field and has confined
himself to that. Dickens, George Eliot, Thackeray made occasional
incursions on historic ground, but still their chief work was expended
upon the novel of life and manners. Lytton attempted, and successfully,
every department of fiction. In "Zanoni," he gave to the world a novel
of fancy; in "Pelham" and "The Disowned," fashionable novels: in "Paul
Clifford," a criminal novel; in "Rienzi," "Harold," "The Last of the
Barons," historical novels; in "What Will He Do With It?" a novel of
familiar life. And he brought to each variety of fiction the same
artistic sense, the same knowledge of the world, and keen observation.
To describe English life in all its phases, he was particularly fitted.
Born in a high rank, he was perfectly at home in his descriptions of
the upper classes, and never slow in exposing their vices. His studies
of men took so universal a form that he became familiar even with the
slang terms of pickpockets and house-breakers. "What Will He Do With
It?" combines examples of the heroic, the humorous, the pathetic, and
the villainous, and affords, perhaps, the best general view of the
author's varied talents. Sir Bulwer Lytton is one of the most
voluminous writers of a very prolific class, and yet he has never
repeated himself. Mr. Anthony Trollope and several other novelists have
shown how fallacious is the idea that the imagination is a fickle
mistress to be courted and waited for. They have proved that she can be
made to settle down and accustomed by habit to working at stated hours
and for regular periods. But Bulwer Lytton not only forced his
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