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Sweden (Sweden) (search for this): chapter 10
eigners that something new is to be demanded of a new country, and this novelty is more naturally looked for, by the mass of readers, in costumes and externals than in the inward spirit. Much of the welcome was given most readily to what may be called the Buffalo Bill spirit, and belonged to the tomahawk and blanket period. When a Swedish visitor to this country, some twenty years ago, was asked whether Frederika Bremer's novels, once received here with such enthusiasm, were still read in Sweden, he said No; and to the question as to what had taken their place he replied, Bret Harte and Mark Twain. It is undoubtedly these two men rather than any others among the Western humorists, in their opinion of whom Europe and America, for a time at least, most nearly united. Bret Harte. Apart from his characterization of such broadly humorous types as Truthful James and Ah sin, Bret Harte deserves to be remembered as the picturesque chronicler of life in California during the early gol
Europe (search for this): chapter 10
we were told, would thrill every heart with his song, Is it Raining, mother Dear, in South Boston? or, Mother, you are one of my parents, and could, we were assured, extract a fiver from the pocket of the hardest-hearted man in the audience. This was the kind of platform humor which captured two continents, and substituted for the saying of M. Philarete Chasles in 1851: All America has not produced a humorist, the still more dangerous assumption that America produced nothing else. The European popularity of this American humor was in part based, no doubt, upon the natural feeling of foreigners that something new is to be demanded of a new country, and this novelty is more naturally looked for, by the mass of readers, in costumes and externals than in the inward spirit. Much of the welcome was given most readily to what may be called the Buffalo Bill spirit, and belonged to the tomahawk and blanket period. When a Swedish visitor to this country, some twenty years ago, was asked
Massachusetts (Massachusetts, United States) (search for this): chapter 10
and America. Nor can we say that what is called American humor belongs distinctively to the West. The early humorists were mostly of Eastern origin, though bred and emancipated in the Westthus Artemus Ward was from Maine, Josh Billings from Massachusetts, and Orpheus C. Kerr and Eli Perkins from New York. The prince among these jokers was Artemus Ward, who as a lecturer glided noiselessly upon the stage as if dressed for Hamlet, and looked as surprised as Hamlet if the audience laughed. Th been, from the beginning, far less anxious to compare Americans with Europeans than with one another. He is international only if we adopt Mr. Emerson's saying that Europe stretches to the Alleghanies. As a native of Ohio, transplanted to Massachusetts, he never can forego the interest implied in this double point of view. The Europeanized American, and, if we may so say, the Americanized American, are the typical figures that re-appear in his books. Even in The Lady of the Aroostook, alt
California (California, United States) (search for this): chapter 10
e and America, for a time at least, most nearly united. Bret Harte. Apart from his characterization of such broadly humorous types as Truthful James and Ah sin, Bret Harte deserves to be remembered as the picturesque chronicler of life in California during the early gold-hunting days. His later work leads one to think that it was a lucky stroke of fortune which led the young native of New York with the quick eye and the clever pen, at precisely the right moment, into an uncultivated fieldthe Aroostook, although the voyagers reach the other side at last, the real contrast is found on board ship; and, although he allows his heroine to have been reared in a New England village, he cannot forego the satisfaction of having given her California for a birthplace. Mr. James writes international episodes : Mr. Howells writes inter-oceanic episodes; his best scenes imply a dialogue between the Atlantic and Pacific slopes. In one sense the novels of Mr. Howells have, like those of many
Oregon (Oregon, United States) (search for this): chapter 10
who wrote Ten years in the Valley of the Mississippi (1826), and also who wrote from Cincinnati to the London Athenaeum and had his books translated into French. These books, with those of Peter Parley (sometimes written by Hawthorne), gave a most vivid charm to the Western wilds and rivers. In The pioneers Cooper made us already conscious citizens of a great nation, and took our imagination as far as the Mississippi. Lewis and Clark carried us beyond the Mississippi (1814). About 1835 Oregon expeditions were forming, and I remember when boys in New England used to peep through barn doors to admire the great wagons in which the emigrants were to travel. Then came Mrs. Kirkland's A New home, Who'll follow? （1839). Besides this we had Irving's Tour of the prairies (1835) and his Astoria the following year. The West was still a word for vast expeditions, for the picturesqueness and the uncertainty of Indian life, and not for the amenities of a civilized condition. Aspirants for
Hungary (Hungary) (search for this): chapter 10
ns, villages, all filled with people who can read and write and look to the philanthropist for a public library. The superintendent of the census in 1890 announced officially that there was no longer any frontier line in the population map. The continent has been crossed, the first rough conquest of the wilderness has been accomplished. This is the region to which we are now to look for authors. All the great literary territories on the continent of Europe, Italy, Germany, France, Austro-Hungary, could be laid together in a small portion of it. The mere size of a country is not a criterion of its productiveness in art, but it is reasonable to suppose that some of the vast energy hitherto employed in the task of opening the West will presently be spared from the toil of practical life, to give a good account of itself in literature. Early writers about the West. The first authors who came from the West to delight our young people at the East were. Audubon, the ornithologist,
New England (United States) (search for this): chapter 10
n as far as the Mississippi. Lewis and Clark carried us beyond the Mississippi (1814). About 1835 Oregon expeditions were forming, and I remember when boys in New England used to peep through barn doors to admire the great wagons in which the emigrants were to travel. Then came Mrs. Kirkland's A New home, Who'll follow? （1839).took, although the voyagers reach the other side at last, the real contrast is found on board ship; and, although he allows his heroine to have been reared in a New England village, he cannot forego the satisfaction of having given her California for a birthplace. Mr. James writes international episodes : Mr. Howells writes inter-rtray, what would seem not so impossible, an everyday gentleman or lady. For the East, on the other hand, Miss Jewett has been able to produce types of the old New England gentry, dwelling perhaps in the quietest of country towns, yet incapable of any act which is not dignified or gracious; and Miss Viola Roseboro has depicted suc
Maine (Maine, United States) (search for this): chapter 10
ride in possessing the American humorist. This means that we are now content to let the reputation of our humor stand or fall by the quality of the American joke. Artemus War. So far as pure humor is concerned, there has never been a distinct boundary line between England and America. Nor can we say that what is called American humor belongs distinctively to the West. The early humorists were mostly of Eastern origin, though bred and emancipated in the Westthus Artemus Ward was from Maine, Josh Billings from Massachusetts, and Orpheus C. Kerr and Eli Perkins from New York. The prince among these jokers was Artemus Ward, who as a lecturer glided noiselessly upon the stage as if dressed for Hamlet, and looked as surprised as Hamlet if the audience laughed. The stage was dark, and the performance was interrupted by himself at intervals, to look for an imaginary pianist and singer who never came, but who became as real to the audience as Jefferson's imaginary dog Schneider in
Russia (Russia) (search for this): chapter 10
carries one away from the first moment to the last, and the figures seem absolutely real. Mr. Garland's pictures of life in the middle West are sombre, but not morbid. In one respect his work and that of Frank Norris present an odd paradox. Each of these writers set out with the stated intention of breaking away from the literary traditions of the East. They did, so far as the Eastern states of North America are concerned; but they did not hesitate to go still farther east, to France and Russia, for their-models. Mr. Garland's earlier tales have much of the ironical compactness of de Maupassant, and Mr. Norris's novels could not have been written but by a worshiper of Zola. It cannot be expected that the spirit of the West will find perfect expression under such a method. If America cannot find utterance in terms of England, she certainly cannot in terms of France. There are certain racial prescriptions of taste and style which cannot be safely ignored. Apart from the questio
Jefferson City (Missouri, United States) (search for this): chapter 10
Westthus Artemus Ward was from Maine, Josh Billings from Massachusetts, and Orpheus C. Kerr and Eli Perkins from New York. The prince among these jokers was Artemus Ward, who as a lecturer glided noiselessly upon the stage as if dressed for Hamlet, and looked as surprised as Hamlet if the audience laughed. The stage was dark, and the performance was interrupted by himself at intervals, to look for an imaginary pianist and singer who never came, but who became as real to the audience as Jefferson's imaginary dog Schneider in Rip Van Winkle, for whom he was always vainly whistling. This unseen singer, we were told, would thrill every heart with his song, Is it Raining, mother Dear, in South Boston? or, Mother, you are one of my parents, and could, we were assured, extract a fiver from the pocket of the hardest-hearted man in the audience. This was the kind of platform humor which captured two continents, and substituted for the saying of M. Philarete Chasles in 1851: All America
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