by holding divinely independent of the great emotion they have sown," he says:[1]
"In the one hundred and fourth chapter of the thirteenth
volume of the Book of Egoism, it is written: Possession without obligation to the object possessed approaches felicity."
When we turn to plot or situation as a vehicle of satire,
we find an almost exact parallel, as to proportionate
amount, to the reflective type just discussed. More than
half of the novelists on our list have no examples worthy
of special mention. A few insert amusing episodes, not
especially germane to the main plot. And the three
notable instances, where the satiric situation is a feature
of importance, where it influences the whole trend of the
movement, affects the leading characters, and plays a
part in the climax, occur in the three real satires, Martin Chuzzlewit, Vanity Fair, and The Egoist; so that Dickens, Thackeray, and Meredith are again our main theme.
Situation or action is of course merely the dramatization of character, and not to be distinguished from it except as actual expression is distinguished from the capacity for it. Individuals speak for themselves instead of being spoken for, although they often convey more than they mean to, and much that they would not. Since this form of art has its own medium in the drama, it is there that we look for the most perfect and concentrated expression, and expect to find it in the novel only in the latter's dramatic moments, which may be few and far between. But as the dénouement of the drama usually turns on some phase of poetic justice, either in its tragic or its comic aspect, so also does this dramatic element in fiction. Satire in situation is therefore concerned with the comedy
- ↑ The Egoist, 156.
