This the Russian novelists seem to have understood; they judged Russian
life by describing it.
The man who writes literature as a means for promulgating political
or moral ideas is either a conservative who desires to return to the
conventions of the past, or else a radical who seeks the establishment
of a new mode of life. The method employed by the former usually
consists in exposing the restlessness and unhappiness of people who
live in accordance with "advanced" ideas in comparison with the
contentment of those who follow the older traditions. Such stories
are, however, inconclusive, because they imply the false sociological
thesis that the remedy for present ills is a return to the customs of
the past. Happiness can indeed exist only in a stable society; but
each age must create its own order to suit its changing needs; it
cannot, if it would, go back to the old. These stories, therefore,
although they often contain truthful and valuable pictures of the ills
of contemporary life, and are useful in helping to conserve what is
good in the spirit of the past, are nevertheless bound to be futile
in their main endeavor.
The method of the radical usually consists of two parts: one of
criticism, designed to show the misery due to existing laws and
institutions; another of construction, the disclosure of a new and
better system. But here, too, the constructive part of the story is
likely to be weak. For whether the writer sets forth his program by
putting it into the mouth of one of his characters or appends it as
a commentary to his story, the practicability of his scheme is always
open to question.
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