In a recent study of William Gilmore Simms's editorship of the
Southern Literary Gazette I speculated whether the twelfth
number of the "new" series had been published as announced; whether (as
was generally believed) the number had simply failed to materialize; or
whether it was issued, on November 7, 1829, under the new title, the
Pleiades, and Southern
Literary Gazette.[1] From the
evidence at hand I concluded that the twelfth number for November 1,
1829, probably had been issued and that it probably did include the
"Confessions of a Murderer," as Simms himself had claimed. The happy
discovery of the long lost November 1, 1829, Southern Literary
Gazette
[2] proves both of these
guesses to have been correct. The present note concludes my study of
Simms and the Southern Literary Gazette by briefly
examining
the contents of the twelfth number, ascribing to Simms those contributions
for which evidence of authorship exists, and commenting upon the new
light thrown upon the Martin Faber controversy by the
discovery of the "Confessions of a Murderer."
Like earlier numbers of SLG, the final number was
largely filled with Simms's own writings. In its twenty-four pages the
November 1 issue contains twenty items (none signed by name): ten poems,
three stories or sketches, four essays, an editorial, and an index (called
"Table of Contents") to the entire second volume.[3] Of the nineteen contributions ten
(the
three stories, six of the poems, and the editorial) can safely be ascribed to
Simms: two are signed by pseudonyms Simms used elsewhere in
SLG, "On the Death of an Infant," a poem signed "E.," and
"The Opportunity," a story or sketch signed "G."; five other poems, "To
Thee," "EPIGRAM, On a Young Lady who looked Witty Things, but never
spoke them," "Epitaph" (beginning "We rear o'er thee no splendid tomb"),
"Stanzas" (beginning "Sweet be the laughing skies around"), and "Stanzas"
(beginning "Well may my friendships all decline—") were later
republished in collections of Simms's
poetry (as was "On the Death of an Infant"); "Chronicles of Ashley
River—No 6" is the final installment of the series Simms had begun
with
the July 15, 1829, number; "L'ENVOY" identifies itself as the work of the
"Editor"; and of course the other piece of fiction known to have been
written by Simms is the long sought, much speculated upon forerunner of
Martin Faber, the "Confessions of a Murderer." In addition,
on
the basis of internal evidence, "Prospects of a National Literature" and
"Epitaph" (beginning "His was the heart that passionate feeling warm'd")
can also be assigned to the young editor. (These twelve titles bring the total
number of contributions by Simms to the full run of SLG to
113, ninety-eight of which are certain, fifteen probable.)[4]
Although insufficient evidence exists to establish the authorship of the
other seven contributions to the November 1, 1829, number, it seems safe
to assume that at least some of them are also the work of the over-taxed
editor. Three of the seven are poems: "The Charter Oak," signed "H.";
"Rain not Wanted," unsigned; and "On Reading the Works of an American
Poet, who died of Want," unsigned. The four prose contributions of
undesignated authorship are "Capt. Hall on his Tour," unsigned; "Bacon's
'Novum Organon Scientiarium,'" unsigned; "Glances at Adam Smith,"
signed "W."; and "Excerpts," unsigned. The most ambitious of the
"authorless" selections is the long (144-line) "On Reading the Work of an
American Poet, who died of Want," which for two reasons could possibly
be attributed to Simms: its rude bombast seems characteristic of his poetry;
and the bracketed note which introduces it perhaps suggests the editor's
authorship: "[The following Poem, made its appearance in one of our
city papers, some time since, in a very imperfect state. It is now, after
undergoing many alterations, (we hope for the better,) submitted to the
public. —Ed.]" (n.s., I, 284). In truth, however, "On Reading the
Works
of an American Poet, who died of Want" does small credit to its author,
whoever he be.
Of the contributions attributed to Simms the "Confessions of a
Murderer" is by far the most interesting. Its discovery makes possible, for
the first time, the unequivocal validation of the claim by Simms (in
indignantly denying having plagiarized F. M. Reynolds's
"Miserrimus") that the origin of Martin Faber
lay
in one of his own early published writings:
In conclusion, and to refer again to the supposed resemblance of
"Martin Faber" to "Miserrimus," we may add, that the chief incidents of
the former work were first published in the Southern Literary Gazette, a
periodical put forth in Charleston, South Carolina, about seven years ago.
It filled some eight or ten pages in the second volume of that journal, where
the reader, if curious, will find it. From the paper entitled, "Confessions
of a Murderer," the work was subsequently elaborated—partly in
1829,
partly in 1832, and finally revised for publication in 1833, when it appeared
in its present form. In the process of elaboration, new persons and new
events received their existence. Thus, the character of William Harding,
which does not appear in the original production, was introduced, and all
the softening and gentler features of the work were the fruit of an after
labour. The sterner, darker features of the story—those in their
nature
most resembling "Miserrimus," were all
conceived in the first instance, and nearly all of them appear in the story
as it was first given to the public, in the shape of a contribution to a
monthly magazine.
[5]
Indeed, one is struck by the accuracy of most of the statements in the
paragraph: (1) if Simms wrote the "Advertisement" for the second edition
of Martin Faber in 1836, as seems probable, "about seven
years
ago" pinpoints the 1829 publication of the "Confessions of a Murderer"; (2)
the statement that the "Confessions" filled "some eight or ten pages" is
erroneous in its estimate of pages, but Simms may have confused columns
with pages (the "Confessions" occupies eight columns on four two-column
pages); (3) the dates given for the "elaboration" of the sketchy
"Confessions" into a full-length Martin Faber are confirmed
in
Simms's Letters
[6]; and
(4) Simms is right in saying that the "sterner, darker features . . . nearly
all appear in the story as it was first given to the public"—that is, the
character William Harding and "the softening and gentler features" were
added as "the fruit of an after labour." In brief, although
differences between the "Confessions of a Murderer" and Martin
Faber are great enough that they should be considered separate
stories, there can be no doubt that Simms used the early SLG
sketch as the germ for his first book of fiction.
This genesis is apparent in language as well as in plot, as a
comparison of the opening paragraph in the "Confessions" with a similar
early paragraph in Martin Faber reveals:
- "Confessions of Murderer"
I was born in an obscure country village in D___; the place had not more
than ten or twelve families, and that of my parents was one of the most
intelligent and respectable. The village was one of that class which is never
known to vary its position; it neither increased nor diminished, and my
father was one of the principal, if not the only principal man in it. Would
he had been less so. Had he thought more of his own and the business of
his own family and less of those around, I should not this day recount the
history of my own disgrace. But my father was the great man, the lion of
the village,
and I became no less so of my mama's fireside. I was a spoiled boy even
before I could read—so early are the principles of the human mind
subject to misdirection. I was perverse, unruly and puerile, and my father
mended the matter very considerably by damning at me on all warrantable
occasions. To him and to my mother, I charge my crime and its
punishment, and while they are wondering how so bad a scion should
spring from so good a stock, they have been weaving the rope about my
neck. I shall render amends to the laws of the land; they are accountable to
God, and to his mercies I leave them (n.s., I, 266).
-
Martin Faber (1833)
My name is Martin Faber. I am of good family—of German
extraction— the only son. I was born in M___ village, and my
parents
were recognized as among the first in respectability and fortune of the
place. The village was small—numbering some sixty families; and
with
a naturally strong and shrewd, and a somewhat improved mind, my father,
Nicholas Faber, became the first man in it. The village of M___, was one
of those that always keep stationary. The prospect was slight, therefore, of
our family declining in influence. My father, on the contrary, grew every
day stronger in the estimation of the people. He was their
oracle—their
counsellor—his word was law, and there were no rival pretensions
set up
in opposition to his supremacy. Would this had been less the case! Had
Nicholas Faber been more his own, than the creature of others, Martin, his
son, had not now obliterated all the good impressions of his family, and
been called upon, not only to recount his disgrace and crime,
but to pay its penalties. Had he bestowed more of his time in the regulation
of his household, and less upon public affairs, the numberless vicious
propensities, strikingly marked in me from childhood up, had, most
probably been sufficiently restrained. But why speak of this? As I have
already said—it was written! (pp. 7-9)
Though in rewriting, Simms has altered his phrasing to such an extent that
a collation list for the two paragraphs is not possible, they both employ
language recognizably Simmsian in tone and character. Masculinity and
verve are earmarks of Simms's style as much as verbosity and artificiality;
and perhaps one of the appeals of the "Confessions of a Murderer" is its
straightforward narrative style relatively unmarred by redundancies and
cumbersome rhetorical padding. The brief story is of interest for literary as
well as bibliographical reasons in that it clearly suggests its author's skill
and power of narration.
If the "Confessions of a Murderer" furnished the germ for
Martin Faber, is it in turn possible that the inspiration for the
"Confessions" is to be found in earlier pages of SLG itself?
Nine months before the publication of the "Confessions," "The Criminal,
from the German of Schiller" appeared in SLG for February,
1829, and was concluded in a second installment in March. There are
striking resemblances in the "Confessions of a Murderer" and "The
Criminal"[7]: both are set in German
country villages identified only by letter (D___) or by blank (___), not by
full name; both trace the development of a young son through a childhood
of petty crime to a manhood in which he commits murder; at the end of
both the protagonists have been apprehended and await execution; and,
perhaps most significant of all, both stories consist largely of the
"confessions" of a murderer, narrated in first person. Then, too, the
prefatory comments in "The
Criminal, from the German of Schiller" emphasizing the importance
of psychology in the story of crime are equally applicable to Simms's
method and purpose:
The hero must become as cold as the reader, or what is the same, he
[the reader] must become acquainted with him before he acts; he must see
him not only performing, but thinking his exploits. His thoughts concern us
more than his actions, and the sources of those thoughts more than the
effects of those actions (I, 288).
In light of the scholarly attention focused on Simms's sources for
Martin Faber, it is interesting to speculate whether Schiller's
Der Verbrecher (via the translation in SLG
and,
ultimately perhaps, the "Confessions of a Murderer") is not a more logical
candidate than, say, Godwin's Caleb Williams, which also
has
resemblances to Martin Faber and has been pointed to as the
probable inspiration.[8] In carefully
comparing the "Confessions" with the translated version of "The Criminal"
in SLG, I find substantial support for the conclusion I had
drawn before the recent discovery of the November 1, 1829, number: "the
accumulated evidence leads one to believe that Simms had Schiller's story
in mind and perhaps in hand when he sat down to write the 'Confessions
of a Murderer.'"[9]
In summary, then, it has now been confirmed that the twelfth number
of the new or second series of SLG was issued on November
1, 1829, as scheduled; that the number does contain the "Confessions of a
Murderer" as announced; that the "Confessions of a Murderer" is the
genesis of Martin Faber as Simms had claimed; and that in
turn
"The Criminal, from the German of Schiller" very likely directly inspired
Simms's undertaking the "Confessions." What yet remains a mystery is the
Pleiades, and Southern Literary Gazette: was it indeed issued
in early November, 1829, as the brief notice in the Charleston
Courier of November 9 implies? I now believe that it was,
and
that some day a copy of it may also turn up. Simms's final editorial in
SLG, entitled "L'ENVOY," clearly indicates that plans had
been made for publishing the new journal:
With our patrons we are about to part. We are about to lose our
present character, good, bad, or (what is worse, perhaps,) indifferent, and
assume one which may be considered partially, if not entirely new. Are
there any regrets between us, gentle reader. Do we separate as those who
have been long united.— As those who have been friends. Have we
mutually benefitted or interested each other. Have we given
you a moments pleasure or relief, and have you
paid
us in kind. These are questions which neither must answer.
It
may not be altogether proper, certainly not altogether delicate, to answer
them. Let them remain.
The present proprietor of the 'Southern Literary Gazette' having
transferred his right in the publication in future to the Editor, and the latter
having received
proposals from Mr. Burges for an union of that work with 'The Pleiades,'
lately projected by the latter gentleman, we now announce their formal
betrothal under the longer title of 'The Pleiades' and Southern Literary
Gazette.' The arrangements made for the publication of the work, from the
encouragement afforded by a handsome and increasing list of subscribers,
are of the most liberal kind. The paper will be of the most superior
quality—the type new and handsome, the contents, in the selection
of
which, we shall have recourse to the most approved miscellanies, foreign
and domestic will, of course, be highly admirable and interesting. A page
will be devoted to music, selected and original, and by the devotion to
whatever may interest, improve and delight them, we necessarily expect to
win the ladies over to our support and interest. Here we
conclude—we
do not like to make promises and shall say no more.
-----o-----
The Editor begs leave, while he announces himself as the conductor
of the work above projected, to acknowledge the kind indulgence of his
patrons towards his previous labors. He feels grateful to those friends who
have contributed occasionally to its pages hitherto, and solicits a
continuance of their favors.
Charleston. November 1, 1829. (n.s., I, 286).
