Some French Novels
Memories—Claire de Lune et taxi-auto. By E. de Grammont. (Grasset. 15 fr.) Madame se Meurt ! Madame est Morte ! By Paul Reboux. (Flammarion. 12 Fr.) Epaves. By Julien Green. (Pion. 15 Fr.)
' HERE are three new, interesting, somewhat typical French books. Two are historical or pseudo-historical works by clever amateurs ; the third is a novel by an old hand. '
Claire de Lune, &c. is the best; written by a distinguished lady, whose father and husband are both dukes, it shows all the bright cleverness and malicious unforgetfulness which we associate with the French. There is plenty of charm, plenty of wit and plenty of myopic nationalism in this book, which the right sort of French general, or in fact any kind:of French prize-giver, might describe as Bien franois. The author- ess is, of course Bien franoise. She is, therefore, probably at her best in the pre-War period. It is called " Retrospective." They were gay, those days of 1900, when Europe had " a Pope, an almighty Czar, two Emperors, a Sultan, many kings, two queens, old Victoria and young Wilhelmina, a principality and two republics. Lenin and Trotsky gnawed one-sou cigars in the Boul Mich ; Poineare was already distinguished by his integrity. Briand only spoke of strikers "—and so on, and so on.
There is an anti-English strain in this book which will do most of us good to read, and doesn't break many bones because it is often so silly and inaccurate. The authoress is also anti-American, and anti-Greek and anti- Italian too. Some critics have even accused her of being anti-French, but that surely allows her a more guileful kind of irony then she merits. The English lady is " the most beautiful and insolent in the world " ; her husband is often an " imperturbable " statesman who bullies the Boers and the Irish, won't make up his mind in earliest August, 1914, and destroys peace suggestions from the enemy side after the Marne and on the occasion of Prince Sixte's offer, because he is making money by exporting cotton into Germany, and because he wants to obliterate the rival German cony. merce : the Marne, of course, is a French victory ! " Waterloo again with Grouchy arrived."
The Countess is at her best when she deals with her own .countrymen, and her barbs are surer and blunted. The pictures of Paris in the days of" boaters and moustaches," of the deserted Norman plages and of spy scares in the Nord, are admirable. This is decidedly a book to read, even if the authoress's heart sometimes beats her shrewd, clear head.
Paul Reboux has written an antidote to Royal Flush, its French equivalent. There is no sugar and plenty of dirt about this book. We read that the courtiers of Versailles were often unwilling to attend the levee of the Grand Monarque because of the stench which rose from the royal couch. There is much of this kind and no reference to ' authorities. More pleasant is the story of the king's roast which came to the table between two long lines of servants who cried " C'est la viande du Rol."
In Epaves, Mr. Julien Green confirms our impression that the contemporary French novel is in a worse state than our own. Here is a worthy fin de gide story of a middle-class man who finds that his wife does not love him and that his siiter-in-law does. The latter is an old maid. The style is stilted and banal. " C'etaient un hormone et une femme," " II tourna une autre page," " II essays de jouer au piano " ; so start the paragraphs. This book may well amuse you ; it will certainly prove righteously instructive to any not too young person who is starting to read French.
MARTIN MACLAUGHLIN.
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