SOME MODERN FRENCH BOOKS.
M. HANOI:Al:73CE! Histoire Illustree de la Gucrre (Gounouilhou, lfr. each part, about twenty-five parts now published) proceeds slowly but with increasing interest. In My last article I described the ammeter of this work, which will in future Limos be a valuable authority on the political and military history of Europe in 1914. The first volume of fourteen numbers is now complete, and the second will shortly be so. Full of striking illustrations and of varied information, they bring down the history to the actual declaration of war and the events following upon it.
Among the smaller books, preciousmaterial for future history, which the war has produced, M. Charles Le Goffic!is Dircmude is certainly one of the finest (Plon-Nourrit, Mr. 50c.). This well-known Breton writer tells the sublime story of how the fusiliera marina of his province defended Dixsaude and the Yser for a month against immense odds in the autumn of 1914. His simple, spirited, and dignified style is worthy of such a noble subject. The Abbe Felix Klein's pathetic book, La Owl-re vue d'une Ambulance (Armand Colin, 3fr. 50c.), has been well translated into English, but I mention it here, as many ieaders may prefer the original. The title describes it fully enough. The writer was attached as chaplain to the American Hospital at Neuilly, and ministered to soldiers of every Allied nationality. His diary, here published with many interesting illustrations, describes his intercourse with one after another of these heroes, and gives many of their experiences at first hand.
Although M. Verhaeren's La Belgt!que Sanglanle (Nouvelle Revue Francais°, 3fr. 50e.) has also been translated, it is impossible to leave it out of any list of books inspired by the war. There are terrible and tragic things to be found in its pages ; but the beauty of language, the depth of insight, the pathos, for instance, of M. Verhaeren's picture of those desolate hamlets and villages, place the small volume high among the works of this great poet and prose-writer. Such intensity of passion is hardly to be equalled elsewhere in the literature of our day; but the spirit of France, noble, calm, and confident, speaks in many books of which I can only mention a few. M. Rene Bazin's Recils du 'Amps do la Git421'0 (Calmann-Levy, Mr. 50c,) is a collection of touching sketches full of thought and of enthusiasm. Here we are shown the best mind of provincial Franoe, both on and off the battlefield, and are made to realize that backgrioluienhdeoxfiefts e faith and e heroism, often obscured by modern fogs, w faith and e heroism, often obscured by modern fogs, w homes of her SODS now fighting for their country without a thought of greedy self-preservation.
Other popular writers breathe the same purely patriotic spirit, such as M. Henri Lavedan in Les Grandes He urea (Perrin, 3fr. 50c.), a series of more than forty short and brilliant articles in the style of his well-known yearly volumes Bon An, Mal An. I have seen no book that gives a better idea of how very various types and circumstances throughout the whole of France were affected by the earlier months of the war. Thoughts of the same kind, but on a more deliberate and xefiective note, are to be found in the beautifully printed pages of M. Remy do Gourmont's book, Pendant l'Orage (Champion, 5fr.). This collection of notes and impressions is of peculiar beauty and distinction. No narrowness or 'violence, but much sadness, is of its character. The proceeds of the sale go to the fund for clothing prisoners of war; and it would be hard to find any book more worthy of being bought and treasured in memory of the heroisms of 1914-15.
Charles Peguy, the poet-publisher, gave his lire for France a year ago. Few who take any interest in French literature are unacquainted with his contributions to the "Callers de In Quinzaine," one of which has now been reprinted : Notre Pattie (Nouvelle Revue Francaise, 3fr. 50c.). This original and remarkable pamphlet appeared first in 1905, when, as it seemed, France was on the eve of war with Germany. The spirit of Paris at that time was M, Peguy's subject, and his pages throw a wonderful light on the spirit of Paris now.
When the war broke out, the writer, who calls herself "El Altiar," of journal d'une Francais° en Allemagne (Perrin, 3fr. 50c.) was spending the summer months in Silesia with a French friend married to a German Prince. A clever, fair-minded, and observant woman, she noted in her diary from the first all kinds of curious particulars as to the state of the public mind in Germany as well as the difficult details of her daily life. At the end of August she accompanied her friends to Berlin, and had strange experiences among a population fed on lies to an incredible extent. At the end of October she was able to get away to Switzerland with the first exchange of civilians, and thanks to the help of the Spanish Ambassador. Her adventures on the journey are not the least exciting part of a most interesting book.
A striking picture of Paris at the outbreak of war is given by Mme. Marcell° Tinayre in La Treillee des Armes: Le Deipart (Calmatin-Levy, 31r. 50o.). Perhaps this popular novelist has never done anything better than her lifelike description of the quiet little street off the great thoroughfare, with its inhabitants of such various trades and occupations, from those who inhabit the tall block of flats to the keeper of the newspaper kiosk ; each and all in their different ways drawn into the whirlpool of active preparation or heartrending anxiety; each and all moved by the same generous spirit of devotion to their country. Another story that hinges on the war is "Comte une Terre sans Eau". . . by Jacques des Gachons (Plon-Nolurit, 3fr. 50c.). The chief characters, a.young husband and wife, rich, idle, and indolent, are brought to their true selves through every kind of trial. Camille's fatter loses his fortune ; his wife leaves him; their child dies; he gains his living with difficulty by the artistic talent inherited from his grandfather; and, finally, the war makes a hero of him and restores him to Helene, wounded and helpless, but ready to face a worthier future. It is altogether a charming novel, and is dedicated " aux heros de In grande gnerre." .
M. Rene .Bazin's seafaring novel, Gingolph l'Abandonnd (Calmaim-Levy, 3fr. 50o.), has real and considerable beauty. It is a story of the old Boulogne before the war, the Boulogne of fisher-folk, not of tourists and holiday-makers ; it tells of the romance of lives belonging to Le Portal, to the parish of Saint-Pierre, to the village of Equihen ; the old customs, religious and social, still lingering in that conservative community. The characters are lifelike, from the faithful mother to Gingolph himself, forsaken of his rich and pretty love, but showing by land and sea the splendid qualities of his race. Le Pavillon. aux Lions, by J. Hudault (Perrin, 3fr. 50o.), shows something of the spirit of the younger French novelists before the war. It seems like ancient history indeed that an officer should have left the Army in order to settle down with his beautiful young wife on his farming property in the Beauce. That country and its occupations are charmingly described. The old manor had a remarkable library, the books of which, bused in an annexe which was once a chapel, had had a curious influence on the character and fate of several members of the family before Robert Flavier advised Suzanne to cultivate her mind there. In the end, some of these books meet a righteous judgment by fire, and the pavilion, purified of their spirit, is restored once again to its original use. L'Ilerbe gu'on foule, by Georges de Lys (Leclerc, 3fr. 500, is a romance of faithful service in Brittany, the home of some of the ancient virtues. It is on the whole a tragic story, deepened in tone by the background of wild sea-coast and dark superstition, but relieved by the pure moral beauty of Corentine, the little servant-maid, whose noble character stands out in contrast with that of the copper-haired, greeneyed siren who becomes the second wife of her unhappy master.
I must end, as I began, with the war. M. Millerand did a wise thing in sending Theodore Be trel to the front, as a singer to the troops in trenches, camps, and hospitals. The famous laureate of Brittany has surpassed himself in his Chants du Bivouac (Payot, 3fr. 50c.). To this inspiring volume of soldier songs, outside of which the Gallic cock crows triumphant, Maurice Banes contributes a charming and intimate little preface, and the well-known illustrator, Carlegle, a set of most characteristic drawings. E.
Previous page
