The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 2, October, 1834Various
General
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 2, October, 1834
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
We beg the reader to bear it in mind that these are the productions of
a young, inexperienced, and almost uneducated girl, and that they are
not to be tried by the tests which are usually applied to more matured
efforts. In conclusion, we will say in the language of Dr. Morse, her
biographer, "that her defects will be perceived to be those of youth
and inexperience, while in invention, and in that mysterious power of
exciting deep interest, of enchaining the attention, and keeping it
alive to the end of the story; in that adaptation of the measure to the
sentiment, and in the sudden change of measure to suit a sudden change
of sentiment, in wild and romantic description, and in the congruity of
the accompaniments to her characters, all conceived with great purity
and delicacy, she will be allowed to have discovered uncommon maturity
of mind; and her friends to have been warranted in forming very high
expectations of her future distinction."
We are pleased to learn that it is in contemplation by Miss Davidson's
friends, to publish a new and improved edition of her works, with
various additions from her unpublished manuscripts.
THE PILGRIMS OF THE RHINE; by the author of Pelham, Eugene Aram, &c.
_New York: Published by Harper & Brothers_--1834.
Mr. Bulwer's novels have acquired no inconsiderable degree of
popularity in the circles of fashionable literature. Whether they are
destined to survive the temporary admiration bestowed on them, is at
this time a subject of speculation; but in the next generation, will
become matter of fact. We are among those who think that they will
quietly glide into that oblivious ocean, which is destined to receive a
large proportion of the ever multiplying productions of this prolific
age. We do not say this either, in disparagement of many of those
labors of the mind which even intrinsic excellence cannot save from
perishing. Great and valuable as some of them undoubtedly are, such is
the onward march of intellect, and such the endless creations which
fancy and genius are continually rearing for man's gratification and
improvement,--to say nothing of the almost illimitable progress of
science, that posterity will find no room for the thousandth part of
our present stock of literature. We do not anticipate that Mr. Bulwer's
writings will be among the select few which will outlive the general
wreck; because, unless we are much mistaken, he is one of those authors
who write more for present than permanent fame. This is emphatically
the age of great moral and mental excitability. It is a period of
incessant restlessness and activity; and he who would expect to command
much attention, must seek to gratify the appetite for novelty and
variety, even at the expense of good sense, sound morality and correct
taste. We incline to the opinion that Mr. Bulwer has forgotten, that
society in the aggregate, frequently resembles the individual man; and
that whilst it often experiences paroxysms of unnatural excitement,
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