Stories of Exile

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Stories of Exile, by Various, Edited by Rossiter Johnson
LITTLE CLASSICS
EDITED BY ROSSITER JOHNSON
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
1914
COPYRIGHT, 1851 AND 1879, BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE AND ROSE HAWTHORNE LATHROP
COPYRIGHT, 1871 AND 1899, BY FIELDS, OSGOOD & CO. AND BRET HARTE
COPYRIGHT, 1874, BY JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
It is not more difficult for the mineralogist to define a metal, than for the critic to define a classic. No attribute or property of metal can be mentioned,—hardness, brittleness, malleability, magnetism, lustre,—but some acknowledged metal can be found which lacks it. So when we come to define what is classic in literature, we find not a single quality that may not be dispensed with, or that is not lacking in some universally accepted and canonized piece of composition. Is age a requisite? Consider Mr. Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg, which was recognized as classic and immortal the hour it was flashed from the wires and printed or misprinted in the five thousand journals of the land. Is perfection of plot or unity of design necessary? David Copperfield can hardly be said to have a plot, and the Merchant of Venice is notably lacking in unity. Is detailed grammatical and idiomatic correctness indispensable? Then how few are the absolute masters of English prose! It is with some feeling of embarrassment at this lack of any perfect test, that I have gathered the contents of these volumes and ventured to call them Little Classics. And yet the genuine lovers of literature, setting aside all attempt at conscious definition, and following only their artistic instincts, will not seriously differ in their opinion as to what deserves the name of classic and bears the warrant of immortality.