New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-15

supposed to explain everything and TO JUSTLY thc
Forty for excluding the author of the Comcdle
Humane But if NJ. Daudet is right In what ne
SAYS rs 20 the methods by which Acadcmicans arc
created, all the rest follows almost as matter oil
course Men so chosen must be men OF INFERIOR
minds, morals and tendencies generally. 1hey
must be precisely such men as come to tire 1rofiI
in politics anywhere where sclf-interest ana IN
tric-re have been substituted for principles and
public spirit In fact, according to NJ Dauoe''
the French Academy is machine body ana
hotbcd of sham and hypocrisy, but perhaps none
the less likely TO survive, and even to flourish
for Academies must, after all, follow natural
law. and adapt themselves to their environment.
! But it is not only against the 1mmortals that
NJ Daudct tits in this novel The woman OF inc
period shares his satire and invcctive; the French
woman of the period, that is to say There is no
longer anything she loves he tells us, but her tot
let. Dress alone interests and moves her
Madame Asticr it is true, shows blind devotion
TO her brilliant and unprincplcd son, and unhcsi-
tatingy robs her husband Of his most cherished
treasures to supply the impcrious wants OF the
vounr man. This maternal love nevertheless is
Denoted as scarcely more exalted than an animal
instinct. and it fails to dignity the indulgent
norcnt Paul Asticr makes love to the Princess
! Colettc de Roscn, pretty widow, who plays the
Natron OF Ephcsus and after two years OF lnces-
SAINT mourning for her hero Prince, including daily
pilrrmagcs to Pcrc-la Chasc, where she has caused
n splcndid monument to be erected to his memory
she permits her young architect Paul to court hcr
in the cemetery itself, and falls into his arms
while taking shelter from a shower in the NOR
tuarv cdifce and upon the sarcophagus of the
dead husband This access Of amorous emotion
docs not, however, blind the Princess to the
worldly imprudcncc Of marrying a poor and I'M
titled nan, and while lamonting her fate the
fair Colctte promptly discards her lover ana
| marrcs the Prince d Athis, who is feeble 1901,
owing all bis position to the Duchtss fadoyani'
who has coached and formed him, and whom he
coolly deserts ut the first good opportunity.
PERHAPS it may be said that NJ Daudcts men
are rs Objectionable as his women, but this is
really not the case. No man could do what the
| Duchess Padovan did at her own chateau Of
Mousscaux, when she visited her guest, Paul. at
nipl. by n secret passage. She is a woman Of fiji
". wonderfully preserved, and looking no more
than thirty. but still possessing an experience
which one would think should have cooled her
blood beyond the possibility of delirious out
breaks of passion But grattcz la grande dame
ct vous tTouvcrcz Ia grisete' seems to be VI.
Daudct's estimate of the most aristocratlc and
exclusive OF his cOuntrywomcn, and the Duchcssc
Maria Antonia Notwithstanding her modern cult
| IRE sweetness and light has fond of coarse
ness which would have qualified her for a con-
spicuous place in old Brant0mes gallery OF DANES
gaantcs' Yet this woman is the only one who
oppears to he capable of any seif-sacrifce for
the man she loves. She actually surrenders
her social position and accepts the humble title
of Madame Asticr rather than lose Paul. Nat
urally the reader is left to infer that the mar
| il Il; nd bc nothing
with sensual caprice on one side and sheer greed
of money on the other for the inspiration.
NJ Daudet has some wonderful tableaus il
Illustrating his story. That of the official dinner
at the hotel PadOvani TO the Russian Grand
Duke is inimitably satircal and telling. The
solemn Acadcmicans the artfciality and awk-
wardncss Of the conversation, the servlty Of
everybody toward the guest of the evening, and
the hostcss's provision of a grateful surprise
for the Grand Duke in the shape of premiere
danseusc, who performs a saraband for His High
ness in the drawng-roOm, to the great delight
and edncation of the representatives of Art
and Letters-all this is in Daudets neatest,
keencst and most delightful manner. or the
same character are the scenes at MOusscauX,
when the guests of the Duchess compete for the
intimate post vacated by the dcSertion of the
Prince d Athis In one of these scenes mem
]
ing ambition, humbly solicits the position Of
zebra"-a office apparently akin to that OF
the Italian ccisbeo or the Spanish cavalier
scrvante, kind of patonic human spaneldom,
not altogether compatible with the retention OF
dignity or scLrcspcct by its incumbent
! There is one thoroughly wholesome group in the
book and that consists of Vedrnc and his wife and
| children. Vcdrnc, however is not conventional
| person, but what is called nowadays in Partisan So
cial argot. n revotc. lie has found out and being
a manly man, has cut loose from, the shams and
articles of society. Clever and versatile, he man.
| ages to make living and saves rent by setting
up his studio in the ruins Of one Of the Government
! buildings burned by the Commune and not yet
restored The picture of this impromptu atelier
is said 10 be faithful reproduction of the place
it exists. and it is very curious. Vcdrine is
philosopher and he serves a sort Of Greek chorus
! throughout the story, pointing the morals, empha-
sizing the hoowEeSs of the situation, and bringing
the folly of his friends into strong relief There
is less humor in L'Immortel7 than in any of Nj.
| Daudets works, and more bitterness and melan-
choly That buOyant spirit-the spirit of Southern
/ Francc-whch so lights up even his most serious
books, seems TO have forsalIen him this time. In
all he writes, in all his graphic descriptions there
is the suggestion that, whether consciously or I'M
|
nalist of decadcnt civilization The Paris he puts
before us is not less than Of yOrc given over to
amusement and dissipation, but the boulevardicrs
10 longer believe in themselves or their Occupa-
tons. They go the old rounds, play the same
tricks resort to the same means of passing the
time but there is heart in their
| pursuits, no passion even in their de-
bauchcry Every one seems dislluSionized and
they remind one Of that grim and powerful magi-
nation of He'll by Mrs. Oliphant in which all the
people are doomed TO keep committing their darling
sins forever yet without the least hope or cXpecta-
ton of deriving any qualification hut
profound disgust and wcariness-frOm what they
do
II is probable that VI. Daudct did not intend to
produce such an impression, but that being great
| artist, and being inspired by n serious motive, he
was led 20 seek harmony of conditions such as
the nature of his main thesis demanded and that in
and the Society which supports and supplies il
together upon common level of moral disorganiza-
ton and inepttudc. The effect is not cheerful.
! ccrioiuly Tho very skill of artist enhances