The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-08-26
SOME NEU hooks.
a Remark able French Novel.

a Remarkable French Novel.
The Messrs. Appleton have begun their
projected series Of translatons from foreign
writer's Of fiction with the latest work OF NJ
VICTOR CHERBuLIEz. entitled samuel BroM ant
Company This enterprise has been well CON
ceivcd and it is happily inaugurated. The name
of the author selected to introduce it should
be tolerably familiar to American readers. The
first Of his books. we believe, which appeared
in an English dress. was La Rdyanche de
Joseph Nohel. and subsequently version Of
Prosper" 10y the late Charles Aston Brstcd
was published here. Since that venture.
VI. Chcrbucz has written several novels.
OF which the two latest. " L. Fiance de Mlllr.
saint-Maur." and samuel Brohl and Cie."
have been printed in the Rtrm des Deit1 Mond,s
during the last twclvcmonth
VI. Chcrbulicz il "A man Of many and rare ac-
complishments. Not long ago he published an
art criticism in the Ryrue which attracted great
attention, although the most capable connois-
scurs in France contribute from time To time to
that department Of the periodical. The modern
novel. however. affords scope enough for the
most varied powers. and 1t IL chiefly in this
field that he cvinres them. In the present
story. for instance, and in q" La Revanche de-
J useph Norel. he discovers n sensitive delight
in natural scenery and contrivcs 10 communi-
cate his impressions with iincs-e and ms inu-
ating grace not unworthy Of Gauther. But his
landscape drawing is effected with swift strokes .
IT IS -ubordina,cd TO the movement OF the mar
rativc; il is a by-work which he will not lingcr
over like writers who are rather poets than
novcll-ts. like Lamartine and William Black.
H. docs not forget that the business Of a novel;
it is the portrayal Of human life and il is sur
prising how many Of its phases. NJ it Is mould
oil Efl la. faft NH
IN his pages. He has shown himself
equally at home in the nord villa
of the purse proud hurgher. the workroom Of
the operative. and tho howell Of the yasrant. in
the shabby. dilhpidatcd keep Of brok"n-down
country gentlemen. in the modest surrounding.
OF half pay on 'crs retired o. provincial town.
and IN the splendid chateau or sumptuous
Paris hotels entire coir etJIrdH belon ,ins e. the
surviving magnates Of the Faubourg St Ger
main. His range Of observation seems 90 Doe
wider than Dumas. II 1t is somewhat bass rx-
tensivc than Ahouts; AMI in his case the do
tails Of given social picture are more patiently
wrought out, and the moral atmo- pi"re engen-
d"red under special social conditions moro
sNllluiy caught than Ia tho works OF those
moro famous authors. A. regards the higher
levels of French society," W. Chrrhulicz Is
known 10 have had opportunities seldom en-
whose narratives the life Of the ari-t1-ra~y IS
al~urily carieaturei. In this respect tn books
OF this novelist are hardly loss veracious than
Trollope's pictures Of the English middle cas ;
world.
The author. however. Of Samuel Brohl and
Company il not n mere painstaking Inner Of
normal social conditions rs illustrated in the
careers of ordinary people. Even this quality
of tame. scrupulous fidelity would have its price
among French novelsts who. from Ballic to
B6lot, appear to despise realities. and Introduce
Us 10 "a sphere OF their own. peoplad with inter
estng yet impossible creations. Chcrbnlicz
On the other hand, perceiyes that commonplace
types Of humanity are acceptable and even
necessary in the ba aground OF a picture: yet
he IL quite alive TO the fact that an artistic novel
is something more than photograph Of every
day existence. A. the pivot. therefore, IT his
stories. he Is fond Of conceiving a strange and
difficult situation. and Of setting some strong.
contradictory. problematc character 10 grapple
with It's perpeXtics. II is obvious that this
plan of composition. iudicious ~ II is may lanl
10 an excess Of psychological analysis. THIS =
n fault with which Spichasen is particularly
charscablc. and George Eliot lis sometimes
Thought 20 err in the same direction. In " Jl-
seph Noirel' Cherbuliez was too prone 10 with
o.,
it were in the confessional. Ia the present
story likewise. the author now AMI then stops
the action OF his drama in order To probe and
srrutniln the mental machinery II - actors (;
but these intervals are not long. and the reader
does not always perceive that the rdcont-,D IS
giving placeto the philosopher for the charae-
ters are adroity made to dssect themselves ia
a species Of soliloluy. 1t is after this fashion.
indeed, that we arc made acquainted with thu
secrets of that grotesIue parsonage whose dual
existence il humOrou-ly suggested in the title.
Samuel Brohl and Company"
The firm name Of course implies n partner
ship, but it IL a partnership between the living
and the dead. between the son Of II jew inn
keeper in a shabby liul. hamlet Of Gallicia ami
the Polish Count Abel Larinski. who has noble
birth. courage generosity. genus-in fact every
requisite for supreme social success, except
that II being alive. The assumption of anolh-
er + personality - by no means novel In French
literature. The idea was made use Of for OK
ample fifteen years ago by Ernest Fcydoau in
his " Monsieur de 81. Bertrand But in that
case only name was borrowed. There was no
attempt on the part of the cmbe22lrr to clothe
himself with the mental and moral nature Of
the defunct. to submit himself in imagination
to NIL the plastic influences Of II past wholly diff
frrent from his own, and resurrect in his own
person all the subtle and complicated results Of
n strange environment and existence. The
| conception of such curious undertaking s Sc
| far Ms we know quite new. and tits worth while
10 mark the outlines Of story in which It il
| dextcrously carried out.
As rule. NJ. Chcrbulie2 docs not afllct u.
with conventional incidents. but in this cas-
| he has borrowed. because h. needed a dea ~
| mdrhhd the regulation Russian princess 81