emperament and character as
mirrored in literary masterpieces.

The novel which emphasizes "_milieu_" and "character," as contrasted
with the novel which emphasizes "action" and "plot," is a literary
device for the analysis of human nature and society. Emile Zola in an
essay _The Experimental Novel_ has presented with characteristic
audacity the case for works of fiction as instruments for the scientific
dissection and explanation of human behavior.

The novelist is equally an observer and an experimentalist. The
observer in him gives the facts as he has observed them,
suggests the points of departure, displays the solid earth on
which his characters are to tread and the phenomena develop.
Then the experimentalist appears and introduces an experiment,
that is to say, sets his characters going in a certain story so
as to show that the succession of facts will be such as the
requirements of the determinism of the phenomena under
examination call for. The novelist starts out in search of a
truth. I will take as an example the character of the "Baron
Hulot," in _Cousine Bette_, by Balzac. The general fact
observed by Balzac is the ravages that the amorous temperament
of a man makes in his home, in his family, and in society. As
soon as he has chosen his subject he starts from known facts,
then he makes his experiment and exposes Hulot to a series of
trials, placing him among certain surroundings in order to
exhibit how the complicated machinery of his passions works. It
is then evident that there is not only observation there, but
that there is also experiment, as Balzac does not remain
satisfied with photographing the facts collected by him, but
interferes in a direct way to place his characters in certain
conditions, and of these he remains the master. The problem is
to know what such a passion, acting in such surroundings and
under such circumstances, would produce from the point of view
of an individual and of society; and an experimental novel,
_Cousine Bette_, for example, is simply the report of the
experiment that the novelist conducts before the eyes of the
public. In fact, the whole operation consists of taking facts
in nature, then in studying the mechanism of these facts,
acting upon them, by the modification of circumstances and
surroundings, without devia