Table Of ContentImaginative Literature II
from Cervantes to Dostoevsky
By
J.
Mortimer Adler
and
Seymour Cain
Preface by
Joseph Wood Krutch
Formerly Professor of English Literature,
Columbia University
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PREFACE
This
second volume of the Reading Plan Imaginative Lit
erature covers the subject from the beginning of the seven
teenth century to the present day. The reader will probably
notice at once that what we call "the novel" appears here for
the first time, and that, indeed, five of the seven works to be
treated belong in that category.
Most readers who have never thought much about such mat
ters have probably tended to feel that the novel is the most
natural, the almost inevitable, form of imaginative literature.
Yet the fact remains that it was the latest to be evolved, and
there would be some justification for saying that Don Quixote
is the first modern novel.
This does not mean that narratives in prose have not existed
since late classical times, but they were of secondary impor
tance and none of them would be recognized as having the
characteristics that we assume without definition distinguish
this form of writing. We have also come to think of it as less
formal, less "artificial," than any other imaginative writing,
and in a sense it is. But in all the arts the earlier are, paradoxi
cal though it may be, the most formal, the most closely tied
to established conventions and (in a good sense) the most ar
tificial.
Why should this new kind of writing have become so popu
lar as to have all but monopolized the attention of the common
V
Vi PREF ACE
reader; as well as, for that matter, the creative energies of the
vast majority of writers of imaginative literature? One answer
would be that it is thought of by many as the easiest to read
and the easiest to write. It has been said that every man's life
would provide him with what is necessary for one good novel.
And though this is not really true, no one would ever have
thought of saying that every man should be able to write one
epic or one tragedy.
Actually, the sense of ease of this kind of writing and this
kind of reading is illusory at best except in the case of very
inferior novels. As the reader of those treated in this guide will
soon perceive, they must be read with attention if their real
merits are to be appreciated. If he considers them carefully, he
will also come to realize that, far from being loose or casual in
construction, each has a style and form of its own-sometimes
one which seems to have been invented by the author-and
that the architecture is planned with masterly skill. They did
not grow casually. They are not natural but extremely artful.
He will also observe that this new kind of writing, which
seems to have replaced former kinds, has actually absorbed
into its complex structure many of the characteristics of the
more easily defined genres. None of them is actually an epic,
or a comedy, or a tragedy by the old formal definitions. Yet
we inevitably find ourselves calling at least certain passages
comic, or tragic, or epic in their tone and effect. The question
repeated often in the Guide, "Is this an epic, is it a tragedy,
etc.," is never answerable with a simple "yes" or "no." But it is
always a necessary question which leads to a fruitful discus
sion.
The modern novel-at least the great novel-treats in its own
way the same great themes which the older poets and play
wrights have treated. It may give them a modern setting and
state them in modern terms, but the world of ideas to which
the reader is introduced will not be new or strange to him if
he is familiar with earlier literature. All five of the novels as
well as Paradise Lost and Faust are concerned in one way or
another-as perhaps all great literature is-with the nature of
good and evil and with the meaning of the fact that both exist.
PREFACE Vii
In many ways no two works could be more different than
Paradise Lost and Tom Jones. One is exalted; the other down
to earth. One is austere; the other relaxed and sometimes seem
ingly (though never actually) cynical. Milton seems to expect
the most of man; Fielding to be saying that you must not ex
pect too much. Yet the theme of both is good and evil-Milton
tracing evil as sin which begins with "man's first disobedience";
Fielding drawing the contrast between the false-good man
who lives, or pretends to live, by rules, and the truly good man
whose heart is sound. He says in his own way the same thing
which ~lilton had said elsewhere: "I admire not a cloistered
\-irtue."
Another characteristic which all seven works have in com
mon is this: none gives a formal, unambiguous solution to "the
problem of evil," and hence all leave the universe, to a large
extent, mysterious. In M oby Dick, Captain Ahab pursues the
embodiment of evil in the white whale, but is not quite certain
that it is not he rather than the whale who most truly embodies
that evil. Adams' sin destroyed innocence forever, but is it not
perhaps true that virtue, which consciously chooses in the full
knowledge of what good and evil are, is more admirable than
innocence which has no need to choose? And it is Dostoevsky
who, more powerfully than any other modern writer, has rep
resented the unfathomable mystery of the dark side of man's
universe.
After what has been said, it is perhaps unnecessary to warn
the reader against the once common assumption that a novel
cannot be "serious" reading. For a long time after novels be
came extremely popular, the prejudice of the learned was
strong against them. The opposition of the pious was even
more vehement. To men of puritanical temper "fiction" meant
merely "lies." But a good novel is not something which is false.
It may or may not be superficially realistic, but the author is
not escaping into a dream or a fantasy. He is in pursuit of truth
by his own method. Imaginative literature can be, and often is,
a way of knowing.
How, then, distinguish "imaginative literature" from philoso
phy? One criterion is given elsewhere in the guide: De Quin-
viii P R E F ACE
cey's contrast between "the literature of knowledge" and "the
literature of power." Perhaps much the same thing could be
said in a different way. Philosophy, like science and all the
quasi-sciences such as psychology and sociology, undertakes
to prove and to demonstrate. Since the imaginative writer in
vents his characters and situations and has also the power to
make them what he wills, he cannot in this sense demonstrate
or prove anything. What he can and must do is simply to carry
conviction. If we find ourselves believing his story, and the im
plications he draws from it, then to that extent he has suc
ceeded.
JOSEPH WOOD KRUTCH
FORE\X'ORD
I
Lis
Reading Plan is an aid to the appreciation and un
derstanding of great works of imaginative literature from Cer
vantes to Dostoevsky. It is preceded by another Reading Plan,
Imaginative Literature I, covering works from Homer to
Shakespeare. You may pursue the readings in this Reading
Plan without having read any of the other Reading Plans.
However, you will find in it references to the discussion of
parts of Paradise Lost and The Brothers Karamazov in the
Reading Plan on Religion and Theology. And there are fre
quent references in Imaginative Literature II to material and
discussions contained in Imaginative Literature I, since similar
problems are involved. These references are suggestions for
further study.
How to Use the Reading Plan. The Reading Plan contains
three parts: (1) a list of readings, (2) guides to each of the
readings, and (3) suggestions for additional readings.
1. The Reading List. This Reading Plan consists of seven
readings, each of them a whole work, varying considerably in
length. Proper enjoyment and understanding of these works
require that each reader proceed at his own pace. Hence, there
are no specific time limits set for these readings. Reading time
may vary from a week to a month or two, depending on the
particular selection and the reader.
ix
X FOREWORD
2. The Guides. These are intended to help the reader who is
on his own, without a teacher or other study aids. They pro
vide relevant background material and stimulate appreciation
and understanding of the readings. Background material may
include information about the particular historical setting in
which the work was written-tradition, culture, contemporary
conditions, and literary movements. It may also tell something
about the author-his life, character, other writings, and his
place in literature-and about the composition of the particular
book. Each guide also includes a comprehensive summary of
the work, together with salient citations from the text. This
summary refreshes your memory of the work, sets forth the
substance in a methodical manner, and provides the basis for
our discussion in the final section of the guide.
The discussion raises thoughtful questions about the form,
content, and style of the work-for instance, whether it is an
epic and what an epic is, or whether the work is a unined
whole, or why the author handled a situation in one way rather
than another. These questions are intended to arouse your
awareness and appreciation of literary values and meanings.
They do not have any simple "yes" or "no" answers, but call
for a sensitive and thoughtful response to the reading. A
brief discussion follows each question, in order to indicate its
significance and suggest some possible answers. The discus
sions do not provide any final or "right" answers-indeed, they
sometimes provide contradictory answers. They are simply
suggestions intended to stimulate your o,vn awareness and un
derstanding, and to get you started on answering the questions
yourself.
The guide concludes with a set of "Self-Testing Questions,"
which are quite distinct from the discussion questions. These
questions, dealing with particular details of the text, call for
definite answers. They are intended to help you test the thor
oughness and retentiveness of your reading. You can keep score
on yourself by checking the list of answers on page 248.
3. Additional Readings. We have added a list of books that
will help you in the reading and appreciation of imaginative
literature. These range from philosophical works on literary
FOREWORD xi
criticism to practical aids to reading poetry and prose. We
have also included works on other aspects of imaginative litera
ture-moral, religious, and social.
II
The term '1iterature" refers generally to any written matter.
The works of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume are just as much
part of English literature as those by Shakespeare, Milton,
and Keats. But the term is also applied in a special sense to
lyric poetry, drama, the epic, the novel, the short story, and other
forms of imaginative writing. This is the type of literature
with which we are concerned in this Reading Plan-imagina
tive literature.
It is sometimes difficult to draw the line between imagina
tive literature and other literature by merely formal criteria.
Plato uses dramatic dialogue and myths to express philosophi
cal principles and problems. The works of Plutarch, Tacitus,
and other historians are models of literary structure and style.
Portraits of actual men and events often have the same literary
qualities as portraits of fictional characters and events.
Despite the borderline cases and the common literary ex
cellence of the two types of literature, however, it is obvious
that they are different types with different functions. Imagina
tive literature presents a fictional world, not the factual world
of historians and biographers. It appeals to our imagination,
our emotions, our sense of delight, our intimate personal ex
perience, not to the powers of disinterested thought required
by the scientists and philosophers. De Quincey's distinction
between "the literature of power"-the emotionally moving
and "the literature of knowledge"-the intellectually instruc
tive-is to the point in most cases.
It may be illuminating to note that imaginative literature is
often more akin to the oral sagas, legends, folk tales, and ro
mances of an earlier period of culture than to "the literature
of knowledge." Homer's epics are closely related to the chants
of the ancient bards at banquets or around the campfire. Chau
cer and Cervantes openly mimic the form of oral storytelling in
their works and reflect the avid audience listening to the tell-
xii FOREWORD
ing of a good yam. The oral bard was a man talking or sing
ing to men, using his face, body, gestures, and especially the
sound of his voice. Something of these elemental qualities is
expressed in written works in other ways. Rhetorical power,
the "gift of gab," the love of word sounds and combinations,
the powerful or tender organ tones of the human voice-these
are to be found in great imaginative writers all through the ages
-in Aristophanes, Rabelais, Shakespeare, Milton, Fielding,
Melville, Joyce, and Dylan Thomas, our twentieth-century
embodiment of the ancient bard.
Reading imaginative literature, therefore, is not just a visual
process of discerning symbolic signs on a piece of paper; it is
also a process of hearing sounds, either in the mind's ear or
through oral recitation. It is a response to the human voice, to
the human breath and pulse, to the throbbing life, which no
electronic reading machine can detect or interpret. Through
the "physical" sound and rhythm of words, as well as through
their logical sense, imaginative writers engage our imagination
and feeling and afford us enjoyment.
While sharing these characteristics with oral works-and the
elements of narrative interest, verbal power, and sheer delight
are always there-imaginative literature in the West has
achieved complex and refined forms, technical sophistication,
and a range of subject matter appropriate to a late stage of
culture. Some of the greatest minds in the Western world have
devoted themselves to the creation of imaginative literature,
and they have usually been conscious inheritors of the culture
of the past and active participants in the culture of their own
day. Their works raise questions of form and substance, of
manner and matter, of the intent and result of literary ex
pression.
III
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, there is only one
formal work of literary criticism in the Great Books of the
,v
Western orld, Aristotle's Poetics. In the guides, we have
often cited Aristotle's distinctions in order to illuminate our
reading and to suggest other distinctions, where Aristotle's
