They sparkle and excite, but, from want of continuity, fail
deeply to impress. Extreme brevity will degenerate into epigrammatism;
but the sin of extreme length is even more unpardonable. In medio
tutissimus ibis.
Were we called upon, however, to designate that class of composition
which, next to such a poem as we have suggested, should best fulfil
the demands of high genius- should offer it the most advantageous
field of exertion- we should unhesitatingly speak of the prose tale,
as Mr. Hawthorne has here exemplified it. We allude to the short prose
narrative, requiring from a half-hour to one or two hours in its
perusal. The ordinary novel is objectionable, from its length, for
reasons already stated in substance. As it cannot be read at one
sitting, it deprives itself, of course, of the immense force derivable
from totality. Worldly interests intervening during the pauses of
perusal, modify, annul, or counteract, in a greater or less degree,
the impressions of the book. But simple cessation in reading, would,
of itself, be sufficient to destroy the true unity. In the brief tale,
however, the author is enabled to carry out the fulness of his
intention, be it what it may. During the hour of perusal the soul of
the reader is at the writer's control. There are no external or
extrinsic influences- resulting from weariness or interruption.
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