Modern Fiction

By Warner, Charles Dudley

Book Id: WPLBN0000620467
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Title:	Modern Fiction
Author:	Warner, Charles Dudley
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Literature & thought, Literature and history, Literature & philosophy
Collections:	Classic Literature Collection, Project Gutenberg Consortia Center
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Publisher:	Project Gutenberg Consortia Center


Citation APA MLA Chicago Dudley Warner, B. C. (n.d.). Modern Fiction. Retrieved from https://www.gutenberg.us/

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.