# Modern Fiction

Author: Warner, Charles Dudley, 1829-1900

Genre: Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches

Language: English

License: Public domain

Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3120

Amazon editions: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Modern+Fiction+Warner&tag=cyberlibrar00-20

## Summary

One of the worst characteristics of modern fiction is its so-called truth to nature. For fiction is an art, as painting is, as sculpture is, as acting is. A photograph of a natural object is not art; nor is the plaster cast of a man's face, nor is the bare setting on the stage of an actual occurrence. Art requires an idealization of nature. The amateur, though she may be a lady, who attempts to represent upon the stage the lady of the drawing-room, usually fails to convey to the spectators the impression of a lady. She lacks the art by which the trained actress, who may not be a lady, succeeds. The actual transfer to the stage of the drawing-room and its occupants, with the behavior commo...

## Chapters

- [Chapter 1](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/modern-fiction-3120/chapters/1/index.md)
- [Chapter 2](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/modern-fiction-3120/chapters/2/index.md)