The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-01-07
PACIFIC
COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.
THE NEW ACADEMIClAN
ximond About, the Brilliant French
Author and Journalist.
How We Appears as FlFtyoaix-The
Owner OF a Million Dollars and
Mae ChiIaren-A sharp Tongue
shat Makes Eaenaies.

ramona ABOUT, recently elecIeo 10 Gno
French ACADEMY, must be delighted with
his election lie would hardly be French
man otherwise; for every native of the
country who has printed line, or aspires to
be in any way literary, cherishes a secret
Ion ring for one Of the highly priced arm
chairs
About we'll deserves to be member, which
cannot be SAID Of many of his predecessors,
and has been eagerly expecting the conspic-
nous honor ever since he published "Con.
teInporaneous Greece" nearly thirty years
ago He has uttered number of caus.ic
5asts at the expense of the Academy, as Is
the custom OF his cOmpatriOts, SO long as
they ere outsiders.
Edmond About has been signally success
fui from the outset. having won laurels as
wit, paInphIateeT, journalist. politician. nov.
slist end man OF society. Almost the only
thing in which he has failed. has been in
writing for the stage. his varied talents not
eiilnra cling those OF draEaatist He has
been successful, too, in financial and domes-
tic sff-irs, having made large fortune,
having found an affectionate and sympa-
thetIc wife. with q comfortable dover, and
being, unlike most Parislans. the father OF a
numerous apaily (he has 81 sht or nine chill.
drenl, who ought to serve as indubitable ev-
idence. for prudent man, of handsome
lncome. Ee has accomplished ali ills,
and is yet in IFS prime, being fifty-six
last February. He is a most intense
Erenchman; his patriotism has, indeed,
grown inso chauvinism, especially since the
wal with Germany, owing. in measure, to
the !ect that he is g native Of Lorraine,
fS<, fou of
D4euze, and that Lorraine Is one OF the
provinces annexed to the country OF the
anemy. He was an army correspondent OF
The Soir Ia 1870, ami narrowly escaped
capture af aer the battle of Worth. His let
tsrs expressed the most violent hatred Of
the GermanA They were written-with a
spirit and force thai drew general notice,
ami were partially the cause Of his
arrest two years later, while
on q witt 20 Alsace. His arrest
seemed without justification in time OF
peace, and treated a ierce newspaper dis.
csission, which was ended by his early re-
lease. It Brought About most prominently
bsscrs the pubic, and was On that account,
not ungratefnl to him, for his egotism and
self-inportance are scarcely surpassed by
any OF LIS countrymen.
About went TO Paris as a boy TO be
educated, having shown his literary pro-
pensities and capacities before he had left
hcnne, and won the prize Of honor when he
vas 20 at the Lycse CharlemGgne. Three
seag8 after he attended the French school at
Athens, where no studied archaeology with
diligence. and also the customs and maxi
hers OF the people. On bis return he pub
! shed his first work, s'Contemporaneous
EFeece," Which was very clever, though so
batirical AMI often unjust that it ELECTED
vehement denial and comment in Athens
but was ef2G ctive In establishing his reputa-
zion. Few initial efforts have been more
prosperous. He Immediately took rank as
pne OF the most promising young authors Of
France (he was 81 them, and his fame has
increased aver since.
His second venture was 'Tolla." contrib
ated to 2be Revue DIES DeWe Mondes and
Rfterward put between covers. This was a
Bentims nsai Italian story, and it riveted at
teia. on because it was pronounced a plagiar
ss9 by various critics The result was a
furious controversy. --such as Paris only can
pro sucs when some artistic question is at is
sue--snd the ultimate admission OF the
author that he had been indebted for many
: ID Ia
Fittorie Favoreln, which lad been published
some years before, and had been bought UP,
~ it was veritable history, and the whole
edition, barring lew copies, destroyed. One
q these copies had fallen into About's
hands, ard he had employed it, in part, as
che basis Of bis novel He was blamed by
"a ny for not making Che avowal earlier;
but he sail he dill not think it necessary, as
he had not in any way reproduced the mat
Ger of the book. 'sTolla" Is not worth such
an ado Its chief merit is in its composition,
en- cons .dering this at its best. it is inferior
10 most Of the authors stories
Tie authors SHARP, free pen has created
many eneDli 3, and his sarcastic speech has
preserved them to this day, although he is now
more guarded or more genial in expression
than he has been. a man at Sc, the father of
aIarge family, the possessor of wealth and an
exaltd rcsiti n she u be different from a
young nan with his future and for ue to
make. One of his plays, "GGetGno," brought
ont et tue Odeon, when he Was thirty, awoke
violent resentmen and caused no little dis
order ir the thestre from its hits at theology
and the politics then popular.
The new Acadpmician has written and pub
9ished sorac thirty or more wOrks-romances
novels. sketches, elaborate pamphlets. art
criticisms and fantasies of purely GalliS
knd, The best known Of all these is thu
s.Question Rouaine," ~hioh appeared about
1850. and warmly advocated the abolition o
ths temporal power of the Pope. is gen
eraIly Thought shat Louis Napoleon, then In
favor of that measur-, suggeste; the thing
90 About, Who went to Rome and spent som,
months there, using his eyes and satirica
bant to the best development of his theme
The work was very witty, and when
had appeared all the Roman Catholics
particularly the ultra nontanists, boilet
with wrath, while the an5i-cisricals
rs they ara called there, enjoyed i
exceed ngly. 1t was not quite fair. o
Corrse; it was professedly u satire; but /
revealed eli the defects of the Temporal
authority, aud put them in so Iudicrous ,
light that it is not strange that the Vatican
and its advocates throughout Europe raved
About's brilliant rnind is specially adapte,
20 the sarcastic treatment Of such q subject
and he has, Intellectually speaking, don
nothing better. To Protestant or secular
est, it is extremely enjoyable reading.
Hsnovels are generally very good, thong
scarcely equal 10 their reputation in Paris
unless they are Of the ironicd sort. like *