The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-12-10
CONCERNING BOOKS,
BY f. CAvAZZA.

charm in the best French fiction, which
depends, no. doubt, upon various causes,
Psychological and material. Two at least,
OF these causes are obvious-and M. de
Maupassant's work is an exemplar of their
effect-a passion for pure truth ard adequate
literary skill. These thirteen short stories
are marvels of composition in their line;
realistic, sympathetic, fashioned with
power of selection and arrangement of ma
terial that never fails or errs. NJ de Maupas-
SAINT Is at once despair and an Indictment
to romancists still on their probation. But
all this certainty of touch, this charm that
compels images to materialize themselves in
ink, was not merely the gift of fairy god
mother at the cradle of the baby Guy! The
fact is, he studied seven years before his
master, Gustave Flaubert, permitted him to
publish anything; he served seven years for
his tender-eyed Rachel, the Muse of Romance.
This is the moral of French fiction which has
been supposed not to have anything of the
kind. 1t resolves itself into the well known
formula: Genius is great capacity for dis
cipline.
M. de Maupassant certainly ranks among
the realists; his view Of life and his trans
lation Of it into fiction have the clear, rather
hard outlines OF the objective school; but
he does not neglect the workings of the
human mind and heart, nor insist upon con.
forming them to the outer contours of cir
cnmstances His intense desire is truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth; on
him, as romancist, devolves the duty of
speaking. an incoruptible witness in the case
OF Man cersus Destiny. And he does not
mistake In his testimony, he does not leave
out the superior, unexplored, divine forces
that sometimes interpose in behalf of the
plaintiff in the case. What power and
tender sentiment he shows in the little story.
Happiness an idyl of Corsica told to little
circle Of persons touched with the artifciality
OF civilization! What a picture of Norman
peasant life, at once homely and suggestive
as picture by Francis Millett, is the Piece
of String. What primal ferceness In The
Wolf; and what mastery analysis in The
Coward? In brief, each of the thirteen tales
has district merit Of its own, besides that
OF representing the talent of M. de Maupas-
SAINT who enjoys most enviable place in
current French literature. The volume is
bound very tastefully in dark blue with
silver ornamentation and lettering In gold.
The translation is frequently crude in style,
and not invariably correct A competent
and flexible hand is needed to reproduce the
exactness and beauty of De Maupassant's
work, and Mr.. Sturgis has succeeded only
tolerably. New York: Harper Bros. Port
land; Stevens & Jones.)
Sforza. By William Waldorf Astor. Mr..
Astor brings to his novels, based upon Ital-
ian history, much careful study of authori-
ties and acquaintance with the environment
and manners of the times. The court of Lo-
dovico Sforza, the usurpingDuke of Milan,
offers fine field to the Imagination Of the
writer of romance. Sforza, jealous of the
other powerful Italian states, Naples, Ven-
Ice and Florence, invited Charles VIII of
France to enter Italy as his ally-a most ILL
advised step for prince who prided himself
on his foresight and caution. Sforza indeed
was called Ii Moro, the mulberry tree, be-
cause he had adopted as his emblem this
plant. which, according to Pliny, is the most
prudent Of all trees, never putting forth its
leaves until winter is well over. But on this
occasion the prudence of the tyrant over
reached itself, and Charles of France weak
and despicable as he was described to be in
the pages of the historians Philip de Confines
and Guicciardini-invaded Italy and brought
1t into servitude. 1t is in this atmosphere of
political intrigue and foreign invasion that
Mr.. Astor's story is developed; the scene
alternates between Milan and Venice. intro
ducing various picturesque characters. As
an historical study of the times of Sforza, the
book is interesting and reliable; as a TO-
nance. it:may be thought to lack the promi-
ment love story which is expected in work
of fiction. The pathetic figure of Isabella.
the dispossessed widow of Sforza's nephew,
is the only feminine character of the book.
Ii Blanca Rucellai had been brought into
the action, and the mystery of Narvaez, the
fencer, less effectually kept, the pleasure of
the general reader of novels would have
been enhanced. New York; Charles Scrib-
ner's Sons; Portland: Loring, Short G. Har-
mon. Price 81 0.)
Betty Leicester. By Sarah Orne Jewett.
Miss Jewetts pretty story-which appears
just In time to be placed on every list Of
Christmas gifts to be purchased-is simple,
wholesome and true to nature, as indeed, is
everything that she writes. Tideshead is a
little town, which may not be difficult to To-
cate in southern Maine, and there, to be the
guest of two good aunts, goes little Miss
Betty Leicester. In the guise of a story of
the doings and sayings of the young girls of
Tideshead and of Betty herself, Miss Jewett
has made very clever and sympathetic COM
parison of the relative advantages of stay
at-home and OF cosmopolitan girls. Betty
had been rover in foreign lands, the trav-
cling companion Of her father-but had
missed the sweetnesses of home of ones
own. The Tideshead girls had gathered
moss-like little prejudices and stiffnesses,
they had not thought to make use of all their
occasions for having "a good time" This
invaluable art they were able to learn from
warm-hearted Betty-and she will as GER
tainly add to the happiness Of the young
girls who shall be so fortunate as to find the
dainty red-and- white book among their
Christmas treasures. Boston: Houghton &
MiflIn; Portland: Loring, Short & Har-
mon. Price 81 OIL