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Outlines of English and American Literature
History and Biography
by Long, William J.
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Another interesting feature of recent times is the importance attached to
historical and biographical works, which have increased so rapidly since
1876 that there is now no period of American life and no important
character or event that lacks its historian. The number of such works is
astonishing, but their general lack of style and broad human interest
places them outside of the field of literature. The tendency of recent
historical writing, for example, is to collect facts about persons
or events rather than to reproduce the persons or events so vividly that
the past lives again before our eyes. The result of such writing is to make
history a puppet show in which dead figures are moved about by unseen
economic forces; meanwhile the only record that lives in literature is the
one that represents history as it really was in the making; that is, as a
drama of living, self-directing men.
There is at least one recent historian, however, whose style gives
distinction to his work and makes it worthy of especial notice. This is
John Fiske (1842-1901), whose field and method are both unusual. He began
as a student of law and philosophy, and his first notable book, Outlines
of Cosmic Philosophy, attracted instant attention in England and
America by its literary style and rare lucidity of statement. It was
followed by a series of essays, such as The Idea Of God, The
Destiny Of Man and The Origin of Evil, which were so far above
others of their kind that for a time they were in danger of becoming
popular. Of a thousand works occasioned by the theory of evolution, when
that theory was a nine days' wonder, they are among the very few that stand
the test of time by affording as much pleasure and surprise as when they
were first written.
It was comparatively late in life that our philosopher turned historian,
and his first work in this field, American Political Ideals Viewed from
the Standpoint of Universal History, announced that here at last was a
writer with broad horizons, who saw America not as an isolated nation
making a strange experiment but as adding a vital chapter to the great
world's history. It was a surprising work, unlike any other in the field of
American history, and it may fall to another generation to appreciate its
originality. Finally Fiske took up the study of particular periods or
epochs, viewed them with the same deep insight, the same broad sympathy,
and reflected them in a series of brilliant narratives: Old Virginia and
her Neighbors, The Beginnings of New England, Dutch and
Quaker Colonies in America and a few others, the series ending
chronologically with A Critical Period of American History, the
"critical" period being the time of doubt and struggle over the
Constitution. These narratives, though not unified, form a fairly complete
history from the Colonial period to the formation of the Union.
To read any of these books is to discover that Fiske is concerned not
chiefly with events but with the meaning or philosophy of events; that he
has a rare gift of delving below the surface, of seeing in the endeavors of
a handful of men at Jamestown or Plymouth or Philadelphia a profoundly
significant chapter of universal history. Hence we seem to read in his
pages not the story of America but the story of Man. Moreover, he had
enthusiasm; which means that his heart was young and that he could make
even dull matters vital and interesting. Perhaps the best thing that can be
said of his work is that it is a pleasure to read it,--a criticism which is
spoken for mature or thoughtful readers rather than for those who read
history for its dramatic or heroic interest.
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