New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-12-14
BALZAC IN ENGLISH.

THE RROTHERHOOD OF CONSOLATION: The
Other Side Of Cone r,rldted bY Katherine
Prescott Wormeley. Octave PIP 90 boS''"'
Roberts Brothers.
TRANSLATED by Katherine Prescott Worneey'
Octave. pp SAG. Boston: Roberts bro'hers. -.
The systematic course pursued by bal]ac III '"e
composition of his "Comedie Humane IN one way
,n,,eod and ,,gbtene5 the labors of his critics.
II enabled them to refer any one OF MS movers 10
some clearly defined tract Of his analytc phioso-
phy to classify with peculiar directhess any VI
his types or groups OF types Ihereih IL inc
most marked difference between him ana ro'nanoe'S
like Dumas and Scott, whom In some respects ne
~asa,oh,od Their characters act and react upon
each other in the confused strife OF passions I'M
possible to account for with fnality because 'heir
origin is lost in the unfathomable deeps ol human
nature and destiny. The creatures OF ba'~ac are
stamped with the same insignia OF life' they nave
the same completely there Is the same mystery
ensbroudtnp their souls. But their maker is con-
tinually seeking for the sources OF the'r sro"'n
In their environment continually strl'hls W Ne
fine n man according to his meter. ne hopes
90 end IN the grooves Of life kind Of taismanic
formula the explanation of all the act1ohs WHICH
cause the human drama to hurry on 10 us Climax
I1a savs in '.The Vicar of Tours that I'VE live
ot a period when the defect of governments Is
~ make Man for Society rather than Society Tor
Man" and it proves his profound apprehension OF
that defect that his works for all their power
of insight and Characterization. less studies OF
man than of society. Thus have from his hand.
for example the remarkable Scenes from Pro-
yincial Life" from which Miss Wormeley takes the
two tales in her last volume Of TRANSACTIONS
nPjerrette" and THE Vicar of Tours
In "Pierrette" there is drawn living picture
~ the provincial life among the bourgeoise and
oetit bourgeoise, in which Balzac loved to watch
the development of puny, sordid souls The heroine
herself fragile Breton child of the slightly arti-
fetal sort is touched with attributes of grandeur
as her really tragic history progresses; but though
she Is of Importance in the mechanism of the plot.
she Is chiefly foil to the rascally figures by
whom she is surrounded. Balzac knew well the
effect Of contrast. and especially Of the contrast
between virtue and vice, weakness and strength.
He frequently returned to it, sometimes in such
curious and realistic juxtapostion of characters
as that of Pere Goriot and the vampires who
lived on him; sometimes in the aegorcal fantasies
of such tale lie Peau de Chagrin.' ii is the
perennial contrast made familiar by every novelist
of gifts and made particularly fascinating by Bal
FAC through the mastery expression he gave TO his
intense feeling for the dramatic spectacle 1t pre-
sents Pierrette is analysed for her own sake. but
II is in the light Of weak and helpless victim,
enmeshed in the social and political intrgues or
her relatives and neighbors that she holds our
attention. 1t is in the nexorable march OF certain
events with which she is connected that Balzac
finds his chance.
1t is old saying that man becomes what he
worships; you share partially at least the nature
of the thing in which you are absorbed, ana Bal
FAC. immersed in the petty details of provincial
scandal, never quite shakes off the bourgeois note
You feel 1t in his descriptions of the "etonage in
a story like "Pierrette." The account Of the Rog-
rons vulgar drawing-room and bric-a-brac Is
masterpiece of sympathetic enumeration. Pass
from the scenery to the actors. and the touch is
even spontaneous and secure. The malig-
nancy Of his portraiture in sketching an old maid
like the Sylvie Of "Pierrette" or the Mademoselle
in hic xroliiD ic
aggerated II tried by the standard Of Anglo-Saxon
character: but in a study of Latin social develop
ment 1t is perfect. Hdeous as are the person
alities OF Bazac's provncias, and diabolic as are
their selfshness and treachery, the indictment he
draws against them with the calm precision OF
science is concurred in by every observer of the
condition Of French society earlier in the present
century. Nowhere and at other period has the
gregarious instinct In man cryStallized more elo-
quent illustrations than Bazac found in the prov
inces of the evil worked by petty natures when
left 10 revove within the circle Of their
own greedy interests. The novelist knew his Paris
we'll. but he knew the provinces, if anything bet
ter. and he paints the physiognomy of town
with amazing finish. He was born in Tours and
his familiarity with the spirit of Touraine sunuses
1.-THE Vicar with unmistakable atmosphere.
The Able Birotteau. whose msfortunes furnish the
stuff Of the story, is fine His setting is even finer
These two TRANSACTIONS Of Miss Wormeley's belong
to the category of Balzac's most Ingenious most
exciting and most faithful narratives Of human
Balzac become persistently didactic is Balzac de-
prved of half his hold upon the imagination 1t
was In one Of his most preceptive moments that he
wrote "The Brotherhood of Consolation" a frag-
ment from his Scenes of Political Life" and the
book Is one of the least readable he ever produced
outside Of the "Oeuvres de Jeunesse." What 1t
lacks in entertainment, however. 1t makes up in
abundance of the minute information with which
ola 10 h1a1b oprtc
his sociological studies. His types Of sanctifed
atruism, relics of the aristocrac of which the
foundations were overwhelmed by the fall of the
monarchy in the last century. drawn in the
spirit Of their time colored by that Of the period
of reconstruction The Chouan episode which is in
PRODUCED brings back some Of the most character
istic figures of 49, and to explain their significance
Balzac retraces Of the murderous plots OF the
time with all the patience Of legal analysis Of which
he capable. In this. as in other curiously
romantic directions. he capable of a good deal.
One might say Of the official statement mbedded
in the centre Of the volume and giving a history Of
the plot alluded to- that asiue from a softenng Of the
Technology II might have been written by law
yer From the beginning to the end this book has
the interest of carefully weighed document. de-
scribing the fortunes of certain individuals and de-
taching the springs Of their development. But it
Is too much of a document and too little Of a
story, something not usual with Balzac in spite
of his metaphysics AS rule he provides a drama
as we'll commentary. 1.-THE Brotherhood Of
Consolation is dramatic in passages but rather
tediously medtative whole. The character OF
Nine. de la Chanterie is certainly edifying but
the author makes too much of the admiration OF
her pious co-laborers; praises her. through them
with too much of what the French call '1oncton."
In other words. when Balzac paints a woman OF
pure and lofty character, woman of religious
fervor her loftness Is apt TO reach the altitude of
an antique heroine. and 1t is with less self
consciousness that she moves about in modern /
anachronstc garb Her fervor rises into the ecstasy
of medieval saint This produces an effect as of
ausere thought on the part of the author. but 1t !
detracts from the charm of his story; for admoni- |
lions spiritual matters, unless they absolutely
natural and spontaneous. which Balzac's are not. /
are wofully clogging to the action of novel They