Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-11-20
French Men Of Letters
rNox,- U1~yr 0-n


side Of their workrooms offer "a curious study
for the pen of an observer. The public
usually Judges authors by the esprit which they
hsbitually display in their works. This method,
which seems reasonable enough, Is far from
being infallible. In only a few of them is the
esprit OF talk correlated with the esprit Of the
written page, This one writes easily. and
is marvellous story-teller In Conversation,
but, once you put pen in his hand.
Loses lose himself In words, In the twIstings
A third cannot talk at all. is nervous
and unhappy, yet the moment he finds himself
before an inkstand becomes at once master OF
his thought. Finally, there Is large class who
talk with difficulty. who write With difficulty,
and who yet are men OF real and superior
talent Jean Jacques Rousseau Is the type OF
this class The varieties OF manners and styles
OF behavior to be seen among these men OF let
tiers in society are as numerous as the men OF
letters themselves. One would say that they
We're SO many species OF birds. differing
Alexandra Dumas was the most entertaining
OF gossipers, the most encyclopedia OF story
tellers. No one has equaled him. He was
,sIsed A about everything cry and wishout the
slightest affectation. When he told a story
you would have thought that an excellent
reader was reading it. Whether he was talking
about history, about literature or about his
travels, bis memory was never at a loss. and he
new, + had to hunt his word. lie could reclte an
tire work from one end to the other, the dla-
hen he ceased to speak the reunion was no
longer interesting. No one OF our living men of
letters has inherited the talent OF Dumas as
talker IL society. Certainly M. Legouve Is a fine
lecturer and reader; so is also NJ. Deschane}; SO
ere some score Of others who have one foot in
the academy, the other in politics, and who
pass their lives In the salons. But these are
rather men OF the world than men OF letters.
Among our literary men OF the day, the say
ers OF witty things, the men who shoot off
rockets abound. All the newspaper Offices fur
fellows who are the incarnation of the life OF
modern Paris. At the head OF these is Aureiian
scholl. For long time Cham was their recog
nized chief. NJ. Arsene Houssaye is jolly
stOry-teler, full Of grace and originality. NJ.
Emile Angler is nervous, incisve and Gallic,
with malice prepense; he g2sticOlates freely.
Casily-too easily. You cannot converse with
him. Say few words and he is down on you
with lecture, no matter what the topic Is;
lecture, too, OF fiuency which reminds YOU OF
the talk of Alexandra Dumas and OF Adolphe
Theirs, by all odds the master monol0gtst OF
Our times.
Many of the gayest. wittiest and most spr-
ituel Of our Partisan writers are 'somore and
Silent in society. RochefOrt is OF the number:
but then We know his malaGy; he Is suffering
from politics. Henri Mellhac the charming
author Of so many line stories. OF so many
Partisan exuberances, is one OF the saddest Of
men.
Let us pass to the most celebrated of all, Vic
tor Hugo His age no longer permits him
to pay visits; he receives them. The master
is prolix In his conversation; he talks well
and likes to hear other people talk. His die
thets, and as carefully elaborated as bis
verses, In spite OF the air OF bon
hernie which he tries TO give It. One night,
In the days when he was On Intimate terms with
King Louis Philippe, the sovereign, who also
liked TO talk. and the poet had such converse
tional debauch, that the servants OF the cha
teau, supposing everybody was in bed, put our
the lights and went to bed themselves. When
Victor got up to take his leave, the king had to
take a lamp in bis own royal hands aud lfgnt
the poet down stairs. That. think may De
though, the illustE1ous Victor owed this success
chiefly TO the practical application Of the
axiom, 1.-The great art OF conversation is less
to show that you have wit than To convince the
other man that he Las It."
Alexandra Dumas, fills. Is often ranked at the
head OF our famous takers. This celebrated
writer. who. believe. may be exactly described
as an amalgam OF the negro The Jew and the
woman, is not, in spite OF all his Wit, talker in
the true sense OF the word. Not having made
his way into the salons until late In his career
not having The tree use OF the language spoken
there, he brings into society an awkwardness
the sense OF which still further paralyZes his
natural faculties. Very often when he Is with
ladies 1t happens to hirn to lose his head and TO
allow himself TO be yanqulShed by these amtable
fasDioDaoleS. who are wholly incapable, no
doubt, OF composing ''Diaae de Lys,'' or the
s. Dame aux PEERLESS" but who have had expert
ence in the wordy warfare OF the salons. And
the great writer carries away from these de
feats an irritation which makes hiaa send SO
ciety and Its laws TO ali the devils.
to have little of N. Dumas In tneir compo-
sition, and for the most part they show u ike
tlmidiiy as soon as they have TO deal with the
unlike their predecessors Of the Old regime
only very few Of them hab;tually fleJuelt the
salons. One would say that they had laid down
this law TO themselves, to write about the salons
without ever showing up there. Hence, how
many foolish sayings about society, how many
absurd blunderS perpetrated By Weitknown
pens il widely read romance5 ana In successful
society, they impute 70 1t usages it has never
known, they dress It with costumes which It
has never worn, they tTave5ty both its physical
and moral sides, without compunction.
1t may occur to you that l have not yet
spoken of M lola as a man OF the world. The
reason is, to be candid, that the thing is little
too difficult. N lola IS the head Of a school.
lot merely By his choice OF subjects and his
peculiartfes OF language, but also by his horror
Of society which IS slut against him by many |
hiDgs. What with his thickset heavy. awk. |
7uigarity of his talk, the author OF ''L'Assom- !
noir' was lot made for the exquisite delicacies |
If the salons. N lola has conprehended this, |
md he remains In the country with his |
Re studies naturalsm from the life. TIE |
influence OF NJ Zcla upOn French let |
ers in this as in other respects has |
,een nscalsyous one; 20 into Paris salon
writer's who by reason Of their birth were part |
md parcel OF aristocrauc socl6ty before they |
Undertook the literary career. Being entirely |
1t home there, they contin1le to move In this |
society and TO enjoy 1t. OF this number are the |
poets Theodore BanVille and Alph0asa Daudet. |
The other men Of letters Who. born poor !
ind brought up In humble homes have |
their social situation only with !
their pens, flee these aristocratic reunions, in |
which they feel themselves out OF place, aad |
Sufer nom sense OF ineriority, in spite of all
The h'iiiancy OF their Wit and the celebrity OF |
their names. They have not the manners OF |
MS unknown world they do not speak its |
languages; they do not sympathize With |
us interests; they do not live It's life Hence |
they md 1t prodgously wearisome-thIs world |
IN Which they Go not reign and which they do |
not even understand. You can count on YOUR |
myers the men or the republic OF letters who |
are capable OF making good figure In society: |
VINO are In manners, dress aud mode of life On |
Ine ieVel or the people whose salons they visit
ms Is pity. for both society and the literary
people would gain much by better acouainf.
ance. me writers would give to the talk OF the
salons stimulus, the want OF winch ia daily
deplored; they would bring with them orr
glnal ideas, picturesque fanc1es, the flame
ana tnee enthusiasm which are needed
there. ON the other hand, society wouId
teach them those habits OF elegance that
exquisite polish OF manners, that sense OF fine
correct thing, which are now too often dnSn,saj
by literary men. Too often writer's confouad
negligence with simplicity, and Independence
with license. II they were to 60 into society W.
should have In their books accurate pictures OF