Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems.Fuller, Margaret
History
Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems.
Fuller, Margaret
Essays; Literature -- History and criticism; Poetry
As an observer, when free from exaggeration, he has as good an eye as
Balzac, but he is far more rarely thus free, for, in temperament, he is
unequal and sometimes muddy. But then he has the heart and faith that
Balzac wants, yet is less enslaved by emotion than Sand; therefore he
has made more impression on his time and place than either. We refer now
to his later works; though his earlier show much talent, yet his
progress, both as a writer and thinker, has been so considerable that
those of the last few years entirely eclipse his earlier essays.
These latter works are the "Mysteries of Paris," "Matilda," and the
"Wandering Jew," which is now in course of publication. In these, he has
begun, and is continuing, a crusade against the evils of a corrupt
civilization which are inflicting such woes and wrongs upon his
contemporaries.
Sue, however, does not merely assail, but would build up. His anatomy is
not intended to injure the corpse, or, like that of Balzac, to
entertain the intellectual merely. Earnestly he hopes to learn from it
the remedies for disease and the conditions of health. Sue is a
Socialist. He believes he sees the means by which the heart of mankind
may be made to beat with one great hope, one love; and instinct with
this thought, his tales of horror are not tragedies.
This is the secret of the deep interest he has awakened in this country,
that he shares a hope which is, half unconsciously to herself, stirring
all her veins. It is not so warmly outspoken as in other lands, both
because no such pervasive ills as yet call loudly for redress, and
because private conservatism is here great, in proportion to the absence
of authorized despotism. We are not disposed to quarrel with this; it is
well for the value of new thoughts to be tested by a good deal of
resistance. Opposition, if it does not preclude free discussion, is of
use in educating men to know what they want. Only by intelligent men,
exercised by thought and tried in virtue, can such measures as Sue
proposes be carried out; and when such associates present themselves in
sufficient numbers, we have no fear but the cause of association, in its
grander forms, will have fair play in America.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account