Dinah Maria Mulock Craik was a Victorian novelist and poet. I read her most famous novel, John Halifax, Gentleman, a long time ago, and to tell the truth, I don’t remember much about it. I do have a vague impression of a scene where two friends, young men, are out talking on a hillside, and one of them (maybe John) makes some momentous decision. I found this comment on the author on a website dedicated to the literary heritage of West Midlands:

Dinah was respected for her very generous and compassionate nature and this strength of character can be seen in the rather moralistic tone of much of her poetry, fiction and essays. She felt that true nobility was not dependent upon material wealth and this theme is well developed in John Halifax, Gentleman. The resulting style can seem rather too sentimental and dull for modern tastes.

Ah, yes, we moderns have outgrown the sentimentality and dull generosity and compassion of those Victorians. And strength of character has definitely gone out of style. As for being moralistic, heaven forbid that any novel nowadays have anything to say about morality one way or the other, except maybe to ridicule it. I’m beginning to wonder if the twentieth century craze for moral ambiguity and a tolerance for any and everything isn’t just that–a craze, a passing fad. Perhaps it’s time to write books that are a little bit sentimental, not too preachy, but having something worthwhile and character-buidling to say. Wouldn’t the author who could write a book that was entertaining, deeply thoughtful, and also “moralistic in tone” be a true artist in the best sense of the word? Jane Austen, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Charles Dickens–all my favorite authors were able to be sentimental, moralistic, entertaining and profound. I don’t remember if Dinah Mulock had that ability or not, but it sounds as if she at least tried.