New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-03-18
ANTT-NATURALISM.
a PROTEST AGAINST IMPURE FRENCH


FICTION.
...,,r voroppp paris victor Hazard: New. York,
W. r. jenkins. =,
IA "a rather curious circumstance that whiie IN
this country. women are coming TO the 'front.' as
imtstcrs of the French naturalist schooi IN heton,
IN France where the pseudoreahsts houIb9n H
ranh1y. a woman has entered the arena. Win un'
compromising holiness, as the champion OF na'iOnai
morals and tho adversary Of the dominant literary
,.nas,.,.s The author Of Marie Fougere' does not
mat her name on tho titlepagc. but the long preface
n ,hcb she nj once defines her position and attacks
o.. xhoie naturalist school with renchant audaciS is
s,ened Lucie Uerpn. This may or may not DO ho
RS. name of the writer. but 1t Is enough TO Know ina.
she has strong ethical and artistic convictons ana
!. ~, 70 express them with equal vgor and lucdity.
shs singles out for attack zeia's La Terre" and
paudet,s sGImmortel.S One might have thought
that some of the works Of such writers As Guy 90
Maupassant, Paul Bourget, Thoo. CrltL Cs'uho
Mendes Gyp, Rene Mazeroy, ETC., would have onered
more salient points than Daudets last novel, put
that Is by the way. Luce Herpn tusthes her
criticism by citing enough gross plumbers as 70 rural
customs and agricultural facts. on Zolas part. TO
prove that his claim OF Photographic reproduction Is
a false pretence, and she makes GOOD not te" Oh
her structures upon Daudet also.
She represents herself a woman Of the Provinces
who has been moved TO defend moral france against
the calumnies Of Partisan writer's, and who under
takes what she considers duty In very hopeful
mood. She is quite practical; recognizes the supe-
ror commercial value Of the realistic novels while
dcpiorng IT. takes fully into account the public curl
osity and decay of taste which reinforce the prevail
ing school of felton, anticipates failure for her DOCK
but mono the less avals herself of her opportunity
10 protest against naturasm and 10 expose Its weak
ness and its nastness. After what she says OF the
French critics she could not have hoped for recog-
milton at their hands, and therefore 1t is somewhat
encouraging TO find that Marie Fougere" has already
reached q seventh edition. For she asserts plainly
that there IS no longer any serious crticism-that
the romance writer's cructse their own works, and
that they have organized mutual admiration soci-
ETY. whose function II Is to puff one anothers verses
and 10 suppress all outsiders. Not that al tho
honest critics are dead retired. There are such
critics still but they entangled in personal rela
lions which interfere with their work. and they are
over6orne by the force of tho national current
Lucie Herpin calls attention 10 the gradual rise
of IeactIonary movement, and cites tho establish
nent of tho petite BIbotheque Francaise," the an
nounced object Of which Is to publish only such
works as have elevating tendency and are ad-
dressed TO the higher feelings. and the Revue de
Famiilea edited by Jules Simon and Louis Ulbach
which proposes to labor for T" the rehabilitation OF
France by the elevation of The family spirit" But
these efforts, she holds, only DO made huitful
by exposing the vices and the emptiness OF natural
ISM Before sowing good wheat In your field you
must root tho tares" She proceeds to trace the
reached The novelsts of the first half Of the CEN
fury she maintains were not realists but spiritual
lists (of course not In the vulgar sense Spiritual
ism ddeaism), she asserts was the Distinguishing
Characteristic of that epoch Balzac, whose name
is incorrectly invoked in support Of the opposite the
ory was In tho highest degree q spirttuaist. That
pinIess analyst Of men and Of passion never intro
dueed vice without keeping Virtue In fun view above
the depths which he explores, his hand points always
toward beauty and light; he never forgets that re-
strant and publicity Of language which render possible
The exhibition of crude phenomena; he respects his
readers he consoles them for evil by the evocaton OF
gcod" But the model was soon thrown aside.
new generation of writer's, without intellectual as
ciplne greedy for noto iety, neurasthenic, lacking
patience and conscience both, saw by-path and foi
lowed It. This the begnning OF the materialist
school, and It at fell under the domination OF the
environment. "The decline of morals weakened
faith the progress OF physical science Inspired the
taste for research on vigorously material lines, the
new problem submitted by medical science stimulated
the study Of physiological phenomena; from all this
Issued morbid studies, brutal conceptions, and the
analysis of tempcraments. The typical works OF
this new school we're Madame Bovary,' Fanny,
sMsdemosello Girand' and 'Ge"miue Laeerteux."
We cannot follow the argument further, however,
and content ourselves with saying that 1t IS close
cogent and vre throughout that deals rude blows
TO the school Of Daturallsm daty denies the veFd'
simditude and the artistic justification Of its rerTesen
uprightness and real progress among the French
masses; and Is characterized by fluent, clear and
supple type which arrests attention and carries tho
reader on easily and without effort. 1t is in short
preface to compel thought and to attract sympathy
and whatever may be thought of the story which fol-
lows there be but one opinion to the force and
weight of this clever and earnest introduction.
sMarie Fougere,' however Is by no means weak
novel; and IT, indeed 1t be first essay in fiction, 1t
IL t. kota
peasant life, not indeed that OF agrcturiss so much
as that of the forest folk, woOdcutters, charcoal
burners, and above ALL makers OF sabots or wooden
shoes. These latter constitute class by themselves.
sort Of primitive guild The occupation is hereditary
and the saboters very close corporation, having
many archaic customs and regulations. The account
of this strange life is very interesting, and the author
has evidently made careful study Of It, The heroine,
Marie Fougere derives her name from hen fondness for
the fern-brakes, among which she in the habit Of
making nests for herself while employed in watching
her cows and goats. She Is emphatically child OF
nature, having no parental care, her mothers mind
being aepated by excessive grief foe the loss Of her
son, who died Of exhaustion consequent upon the
tstigues Of campaigning In the war with Germany.
Thus solitary little Marie grows up Innocent fresh and
simple, and the development of the young girls char
acter Is skzlfuy conducted. There Is pretty dylic
tone in the iove-mahing between Marie and Toinet;
and Turpin the elder friend Of Mare's infancy, who
also IS in lovo with her. Is a fine fellow; manly and
self-sacrfcing The peasants vices and foibleS
well illustrated 10 the Of old Cassermiehe, who
has an interminable lawsuit with his equally grssping
nelehbor. Crinop, piece Of land to which
neither OF them has q shadow Of title The denoue-
naent of this suit Is decidedly humorous Crinon,
being wrought up BY too much vino, meets bis enemy
ON the disputed territory, and tres TO kill him.
Cassericbe escapes and utlIzes Crinons frustrated
crime 20 the latter into copcedng the bone OF
contention
It may be said fairly that the author has not gone
into any extremes IN her attempt to vibdicate the
but naturally, and people who can love- feel the
obligations OF honor make sacrifices, be loyal to one