New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-04-22
,oriuon the rsndins forcs of the thunderstorm is

horizon the rendins forcs Of the thunderstorm !"
hidden.
There is On educational value in the translauon
of Balzao into English which 1t win be wen NOV
to overlook 1t is fun time the truth was every,
where perceived that this writer surpasses an
others in fiction by as much as Shakespeare sur
passes ALI others In poetry. Nothing can be moro
injurious to the interests of art than the acceptance
~ the modern heresy that since Balzacs time
there has been an advance in the quall'y'
the methods or the aims of fiction. The fact Is tna'
since Rayac's time nc writer has lived whose WORK
will bear comparison with that OF the great French
man: and Il is not less fact that the literary
product of the generation now on the scene mas
80 far been distinctly inferior in essentials 10 'na'
Of tho period immediately succeeding Bsizac O.
The latter showed the world what realism 10
No one either before or since, has interpreted ~
with his force or his logical completeness. iet
we are drifting every year further from the Land
marks Balzac set up, and modern france, Win
these gnides In full sight, contents itself WIN inc
naked nastiness of lola and the morbid psychoiogy
of Bourget, while outside OF France time anu
energy are wasted in the futile endeayor TO make
IL appear that IL is better and higher arr 10 ca
anime one side Of one phase Of life through hoie
In shutter than to go out into tho open air ana
No timelier or wholesomer tonic than Baizac
in English could be furnished or taken In the
circumstances There is no man OF letters nvlng
to-day SO well equipped so buttressed In his IDEAS
that he can learn nothing from Balzac In regard
to the methods of observation the details OF COM
position the thoroughncss Of preparation, the scope
of the outlook the suppeness and elasticity OF the
creative processes he may be studied with immense
and continued advantage by all who aspire to
write fiction. We have had lately disgusting
attempt to draw peasant life In France by that
gutter-artist, Zoa. Nearly fifty years ago Balzac
did what lola has failed to do, and In " Les
Paysans' produced masterpiece. the accuracy and
naturalness Of which are more and more perceived
as conscientious effort toward real comprehension
of the subject advances Perhaps Roberts Brothers
and Miss Wormely will some OF these days put
that admirable work into English. They cannot
give us too many volumes from the
Coincide Humane" even though their
enterprise should embrace the whole OF that
great undertaking. Balzac is so various that
almost every one Of his books illustrates some
new facet of his genius, and we can conceive no
better remedy for the mischieyous doctrines now
being upheld in regard to fiction in many places
than honest study Of this master embodies
modesto Mignon" is excelently translated by
work she has undertaken by genuine sympathy
for her author. Upon the possession of this SYM
pathy which itself derives from clear under
standing, all true success in translation may In
deed be said TO depend The reply of the Earth
Spirit to Faust Thou'rt like the spirit thou
comprehendest; not me" might be applied here.
A sympathetic translator is however, also one
who is content TO subordinate great gifts to the
interpretation and illustration of another nina |;
and this is a combination rare enough In liter
allure to make the attainment OF really excenenb
translations almost as difficult as the attainment
NJ real excellence in creative work. That the
conjunction of sympathy with intellectual power
and selfsacrifce has been found in the present
case is evident; and it ought 10 impel the Amer
lean public so to justify the enterprise of the pub
fishers that they will continue to issue these admir-
able TRANSACTIONS as long as Miss Wormeleys pa
thence and enthusiasm hold out