DIY History | Transcribe | Scholarship at Iowa | The Ethical Tendency of the English Novel by Helen M. Harney, 1897 | The Ethical Tendency of the English Novel by Helen M. Harney, 1897, Page 8

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The Ethical Tendency of the English Novel by Helen M. Harney, 1897

The Ethical Tendency of the English Novel by Helen M. Harney, 1897, Page 8

irrestistible, yet silent, secret and not to be openly acknowledge. Only within the latter half of the present century have cabinet ministers ventured to quote from popular stories, and princes pay tribute to the genius of departed novelists. 
Can this influence be turned to any direct and deliberate account? Is is given to the novelist to accomplish any definite social object, to solve, or even help toward the solution of any vexed social question? In his mission, to use the conventional phrase, merely that which Lessing assigned to art, to delight? I am not undervaluing that mission. Taken in Lessing's sense it involves all that art needs to attempt our to accomplish. It contains a distinct social purpose; having an independent important, elevated influence; an essential part of education, civilization and progress. I do not ask

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irrestistible, yet silent, secret and not to be openly acknowledge. Only within the latter half of the present century have cabinet ministers ventured to quote from popular stories, and princes pay tribute to the genius of departed novelists. Can this influence be turned to any direct and deliberate account? Is is given to the novelist to accomplish any definite social object, to solve, or even help toward the solution of any vexed social question? In his mission, to use the conventional phrase, merely that which Lessing assigned to art, to delight? I am not undervaluing that mission. Taken in Lessing's sense it involves all that art needs to attempt our to accomplish. It contains a distinct social purpose; having an independent important, elevated influence; an essential part of education, civilization and progress. I do not ask