New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-01-24

| Madame Durands last novel is not of character
to add to her reputation. The story is worse than
disagreeable; it is saturated with bad morals. The
heroine, Cleopatra, is beautiful Russian girl OF
! cold and mercenary disposition. Launched upon the
world as a maid Of honor TO the Empress, she aspires
| to high position and deliberately sets herself 10
! fascinate Grand Duke. Having almost literally
! thrown herself a. his head, aud without success
she accepts the offer of Count Neoutof an ugly
but distin shed, rich and honorable old soldier
TIE old count does all in his power to make her
happy and for four years she remains faithful to
bin. Then SHE encounters q goOd-lo0kmg young
Swedish officer named Uric Alsen aud they both
fall desperately in love at first sight. Here begins
perfectly repulsive drama. Neither OF these
people has even the rudiments OF moral conscious
ness but Alsen, the Swede. is tue MOST selfish ana
brutal lover in fiction. He at once demands that
Cleopatra shall seek divorce from her husband
The author evidently thinks that III making he
heroine refuse to become his mistress she has placed
her OH "a pinnacle of wiiely and womanly virtue
In fact, her conduct is that of woman without
heart or delicacy, concience or sense of duty lhe
old count, her husband. wio is really the only
reSpectablo character IN the book, has behaved
most nobiy and tenderly to her throughout, but at
the bidding the edish lover she soclts divorce
from this man tc whom she owes SO much ana con-
fesses her passion with shameiessness whose
ndirete does not render it less striking. There Is
power in the description Of the suherngs endured
bv the too maxnanimOus old man, who at length
generously resolves to face all the humiliation OF
divorce in order to crafty his unfaithfnl and sebsh
wife Finally TIE divorce is procured, Cleopatra Is
married to Alsen, and dies on her weddng-day from
excess of Joy. THIS death is in effect an admission
on the part of the author that the situation which
leads up to it is bad art. To have maze such a
,t ira an
would have been to apotheosize immortality OF the
worst type But it was only less unjusthable to
create such a plot since it cannot be pretended that
the conception follows normal life. Altogether the
story is disag1eeable and it leaves bad taste IN the
mouth.
Nor is it helped in any way by the translation
which is singularly bad, and marked by such
ignorance of English composition and grammatical
forms as to suggest the idea that 1t was made by
foreigner Some of the blundors indeed exhibit
ignorance of more general Kind, as when the Holy
Synod of Russia is personlhed and put on the
calendar as Saint Synode" tseo p. AZ. Usually.
however, the translator's errors are OF different
kind Here are a few specimens:
Z" He could smell in advance the bad air OF the
barracks, when. he would jostle against his men
and taste the German cooking. tadt for NV copfcts
uoud bring him greasy soldier" Tue italics are
ours. Kamoutzm was not really a cannibal, as the
translator's version would imply. Hero is another
specimen;
~He would have been scrupulous about hiaaering
her to dmase herself"
Again:
a song Of JOY burst forth beneath the vaultcd
roof. liz frclcorks'
aThc idle languor of the spring days pTcrealcd La
TO formulate"
"She succeeded IN Turing her husband upon the
rot ~ track Uho4e pDnl lumJ had been pre-
served"
"Grown nervous by these repeated disappoint
Inents to see each other
1t is evident in all these illustrations. which
might be multiplied to wearineS~, that The translator
has no familiarity with English composition aud
idioms and that he or she has in number Of
instances simply Ensi.shcd the original schooboy
fashion. This clumsy, awkward style of course
tends to weaken the effect of the authors better
passages though il has no influence upon the story
as a whole. II is pity that the publishers did not
obtain the services of competent translator for
while many very bad English versions OF French
books have been put on the American market. IT is
not from such house as Ticknor q Company that
work of the kind is expected.
Josiah Aliens Wife was said to have been
received with some favor. If 80 Sweet Cicely "
should be welcomed by the same readers. II is a
difficult book to characterize. however Temper
auce and wOmen's rights are advocated with con
siderable lervOI under the mask OF dialect talk and
"A queer kind of burlesquc. No such foot Is JOSIAH
Allen kept ont OF the woIkhonse IN real life,
though Samantha is much more natural and much
less preposterous creature before She gets 10 Wash
ington From that time she is as mad as a March
hare and the rest OF the book il sort OF night
mare. We are dis ose1 TO dOubt whether any real
good Is done by this sort of literary experiment.
but there may he people TO whom il brings convic-
ton, though probably not among the politicians
who are most in necd of missionary .ahors.
The publisher of War and Peace " should have
explained in preface that the twOyoumcs COM
prise only the FIRST volume OF the French edition of
Count lolstoi's novel, and about one third of the
whole work. 1t may be doubted whether tho pub
LEGATION in 80 fragmentary way is not calculated
to interfere With full appreciation Of the book,
though it may be argued with some fjrco that
owing 10 the absence of any .cgH, lar plot ana the
disculsive narrative style of the author he ia less
liable 10 suler form such division than perhaps
any living writer The charm of War and Peace"
indeed, consists mainly in its simple and natural
evolution. There is not "a suggestion Of creative art
in il. The story lows on without apparent aim. 10
abOunds with vivid realistic description, which
conveys most interesting information concerning
Russian life in the house, the salon. tic great
public Offices. tho court. the camp. and in the
country. TOlstoi Las not photographed the peasant
a. Turgcnel did. but he has gwen many Hlelke
sketches of the Russian soldier.
The novel is historical 1t deals with the period
Of the Napoleonic wars, from So to the retreat
from Moscow epilogus carrying the history
down TO 1s20. In the present volumes the story
only reaches the Peace Of ilsit or rather its pre-
liminanes. The author has described the Russian
government of the time, civil and military, without
fattery. and it is the account OF wonderful scene
Of confusion and cross-purpo5es. Corruption.
incapacty, fcuds, Jealouses, riIalries between
Teuton and Slav, all helped TO produce situation
which reinforced Napoeons battalions powerfully.
and rendered Alexander helpless. The description
of the battle of Austerlitz from tho Russian point