in their literature, their critics are influenced by the prestige of the past and the enthu- siasm of youth ; for the passage of time adds lustre to what is past, to the detriment of the present.
A foreigner can perhaps judge more truly in this case ; for distance equalizes all remote objects on the same plane. I believe that the great nov- elists of the past forty years will be of more ser- vice to Russia than her poets. For the first time she is in advance of Western Europe through her writers, who have expressed aesthetic forms of thought which are peculiarly her own. This is why I choose these romances as illustrative of the national character. Ten years' study of these works has suggested to me many thoughts rela- tive to the character of this people, and the part it is destined to fill in the domain of intellect. As the novelist undertakes to bring up every problem of the national life, it will not be a matter of surprise if I make use of works of fic- tion in touching upon grave subjects and in the weaving together of some abstract thoughts. We shall see the Russians plead the cause of realism with new arguments, and better ones, in my opinion, than those of their rivals in the West. This work is an important one, and is the foun- dation of all the contests of ideas in the civilized world; revealing, moreover, the most character- istic conceptions of our contemporaries.
