ROBERT WILLIAMS BUCHANAN (1841 - 1901)

THE OUTCAST

THE OUTCAST

THE OUTCAST

A RHYME FOR THE TIME

BY

ROBERT BUCHANAN

With Illustrations by

RUDOLF BLIND, PETER MACNAB, HUME NISBET, ETC.

FIRST CHEAP EDITION

                               “Pœna gaudebis amara
Nominis invisi, tandemque fatebere lœtus,
Nec surdum nec Teresiam quemquam esse Deorum.”
                                                                   —JUVENAL.

         “There was a Ship, quoth he!”
                                         —COLERIDGE.

LONDON
ROBERT BUCHANAN
36, GERRARD STREET, SHAFTESBURY AVENUE, W.

CONTENTS.

_____

                                                                                                                         PAGE

*_** The present volume contains the first of a series of poetic tales
dealing with the Amours of Vanderdecken. The other tales will follow
at intervals, until the series is completed.—R. B.

                                                                                                                                                                 vii

PREFACE.

“THE OUTCAST,” issued to the public in 1891, was the first of what I may describe as my “Satanic series,” the most recent of which was “The Devil’s Case.” I use the word “Satanic” to express the spirit of moral and intellectual revolt, which is just as absolute in Vanderdecken as in the greater Devil. The same unrest and unhappiness, the same dissatisfaction with the Divine plan, the same appeal to Nature against God, emerge in both characters; Vanderdecken, indeed, is the stormy child of the Spirit of Pity. When the work is complete, it may be discovered that neither the Devil nor his favourite pupil has the last word, after all.
     The critical reception of this work was, as usual, either infantine or hypocritical; the popular notion of Poetry being that it should be a sort of soothing syrup or nursery rhyme, adapted to people who desire to doze out the little span of life allotted to them. One valuable suggestion came, among remarks truly appreciative and sympathetic, from Mr. Herbert Spencer. Mr. Spencer suggested that the poem might acquire additional variety, in the yet ^viii unpublished portions, if the metres were changed more frequently, and even the language of prose used upon occasion.
     A critic of the period has defined a classic as an old book which is read by the young. “The Outcast” is not yet an old book, but if the test suggested is applied to it, it will be found to be already assuming classical pretensions. No work of mine, except “The Wandering Jew,” has brought me so much correspondence from young thinkers in all parts of the world, and I am constantly urged to complete the plan, a somewhat exhaustive one, as soon as possible. In answer to such correspondents, I may explain that the work is well advanced towards completion, and that I hope to issue it before long in a definitive shape. In the meantime, the present volume is perfectly complete in itself—totus teres atque rotundus.

                                                                                                               ROBERT BUCHANAN.
     July, 1896.

[Notes:
The first quotation on the title page are the final lines in Juvenal’s Satire 13, a literal translation of which is:

“You will rejoice in the bitter punishment
Of his hated name, and, at length, glad will confess, that no one of
The gods is either deaf, or a Tiresias.”

The second quotation is from the third verse of Coleridge’s ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’.

___

Following W. E. H. Lecky’s extravagant praise of The City of Dream in his speech at the Royal Academy Banquet in May 1888, Robert Buchanan embarked on the long process of buying back the copyrights of his poetry from Chatto & Windus. His obvious intention was to set himself up as his own publisher and the first book was to be The Outcast. On 14th December, 1889, an item in The Academy stated:

‘MR. ROBERT BUCHANAN’S new poem, to be published immediately, with illustrations, is entitled The Outcast: a Rhyme for a Time. It is described as a somewhat new departure in poetry, intermingling with a legendary subject a good deal of contemporary matter. The hero is that mythical person, “The Flying Dutchman,” whom the poet assumes to be still existing, and who in the prelude (called “The First Christmas Eve”) makes his appearance in the heart of London.’

Buchanan’s main occupation at this time was as a playwright and, following a string of successes at the Vaudeville Theatre, his financial position was probably the best it had ever been. However, despite further success with G. R. Sims at the Adelphi, Buchanan also had failures, notably The Bride of Love, and on 2nd March, 1891, Buchanan wrote to Andrew Chatto, regarding the next payment due for his poetical copyrights:

“A sudden whirlwind of demands prevented me meeting the £150, which I thought was due some weeks later. I will, however, see to it without delay—unless you are agreeable to place it to the credit of the Outcast’s first 1000 copies. I find the book will cost me far more than I expected, & what with sums to artists, engravers &c. I am much out of pocket– Suppose you made me a clear deal for the 1^st edition, delivered complete into your hands? The book is now ready, & all the pictures completed save one—a head by Rudolf Blind (and a very fine one) of the Hero, to serve as frontispiece. At the rate of half price per copy, the nett price being 8/-, the am^t for the 1000 would be £200, but there would of course be a certain number out of that of review-copies & odd numbers in dozens.”

Chatto accepted a revised version of the deal and the first edition of The Outcast was published by Chatto & Windus in the autumn of 1891. The Times reviewed the book on 3rd September and deemed it “a very mediocre performance.”

[Title page of Chatto & Windus edition.]

When Buchanan finally set himself up as his own publisher in 1896, he re-issued The Outcast and it is this later version which is transcribed on this site. Like The Earthquake, it is an incomplete work, since Buchanan never published (and presumably never wrote) the promised sequels. This was Buchanan’s third attempt to deal with the story of the Flying Dutchman. In 1878 he had written a play with that title for Hermann Vezin which was never produced, and his 1883 novel, Love Me Forever, also involves the myth.

Buchanan dedicated The Outcast to Charles Warren Stoddard, the American author of South Sea Idyls (1873). There is a lot of information about Stoddard online and much of his correspondence with other authors has survived. In the archives of the University of Notre Dame, Stoddard’s correspondence with Father Hudson contains several mentions of Buchanan. On 25th January, 1889, Stoddard writes (from Munich) that “He has had some letters from Robert Buchanan.” On 14th November 1891, that “He never did see Robert Buchanan.” On 8th December 1891, Stoddard “has a jolly letter from Robert Buchanan, a copy of which he will send soon.” Which is presumably the copy enclosed in a letter of 27th December, 1891, which is described as follows:

‘Buchanan sends his "Outcast" along with the picture Stoddard asks for and some other books of his. Stoddard will notice that in "Outcast" Buchanan has treated him as a real friend and borrowed some phrases and ideas. He is sorry he missed Stoddard while he was in London. The autobiography Stoddard speaks of would be a morsel for the gods. Buchanan would be grateful if Stoddard would send something for the new review he is floating. R(obert) L(ouis) Stevenson has been sending from Samoa sketches of the South Sea Islands, which beside Stoddard's divine idyls look like dingy photographs. The life Stoddard describes is godlike.’
[A.L.S. Copy - 8pp. - 4to.]

On 26th November, 1894 Stoddard writes ‘Just received a letter from Robert Buchanan. He proposes to review "Lazy Letters" in London. If the "Lepers" and the brief paper written after the death of Father Damien could be added, the volume would possess more value than the miserable American edition.’ On 4th November, 1902, Stoddard proposes writing a sketch ‘to be called “The Island of Song”, which will include several of the letters written by Robert Buchanan to Stoddard.’ As far as I know this never appeared, and a final letter in the archive, from 9th April 1904, includes the following: ‘Perhaps this summer Stoddard may be able to write a sketch of Robert Buchanan.’

Buchanan is also mentioned in Roger Austen’s 1995 biography of Stoddard, Genteel Pagan: The Double Life of Charles Warren Stoddard:

Page 115:
‘One of the most heartening developments was the repair of his relationship with Father Hudson, who continued to solicit articles for the Ave Maria. Their correspondence was full of news about writers and books, both sacred and profane, and gossip about the beloved “boys” of Notre Dame. The priest also condoled with Stoddard after his mother’s death in February 1887.
One of the books that Father Hudson forwarded to Stoddard that year was A Look Round Literature by the prolific Scottish writer Robert Buchanan. It was inscribed “To Charles Warren Stoddard. A token of sympathy & admiration from Robert Buchanan”—to which was added this bit of verse:

“I never bowed, but to superior work,
Nor ever failed in my allegiance there.”
                                                         YOUNG¹³

Buchanan had achieved notoriety in England by attacking D. G. Rossetti and “The Fleshly School of Poetry,” but it was his views on American literature that endeared him to Stoddard. Buchanan held that Whitman was one of the greatest poets of the century. (By contrast, Howells and James were effeminate “man-milliners.”) Buchanan also decried the American neglect of Melville and of Stoddard himself.’

p. 185:
     ‘13. The inscription is quoted in Charles E. Goodspeed’s 1909 sale catalog of Stoddard’s library. Buchanan’s views on American literature may be found in The Coming Terror and Other Essays and Letters (New York: United States Book Company, 1891). Stoddard described the letters he received from Buchanan as “lovely, loving, most heartfelt and honest” (D 13 Apr. 1886).’ ]

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