Modern Fiction

Excerpt

One of the worst characteristics of modern fiction is its so-called truth to nature.  For fiction is an art, as painting is, as sculpture is, as acting is.  A photograph of a natural object is not art; nor is the plaster cast of a man’s face, nor is the bare setting on the stage of an actual occurrence.  Art requires an idealization of nature.  The amateur, though she may be a lady, who attempts to represent upon the stage the lady of the drawing-room, usually fails to convey to the spectators the impression of a lady.  She lacks the art by which the trained actress, who may not be a lady, succeeds.  The actual transfer to the stage of the drawing-room and its occupants, with the behavior common in well-bred society, would no doubt fail of the intended dramatic effect, and the spectators would declare the representation unnatural.