The morning call., 1894-09-30
To Be Produced at the
Theatre Francois.
"LE PARDON" BY LEMAITRE.
The Author Better Known as a
Critic Than Play
wright.

and these personages are designated only
by their Christian names.
Last year Jules Lemaitre's play was
LES Rois,' and was mounted bv Nine
Sarah Bernhardt Mt her theater. La Renais-
sance. | gave a: the time full account of
LES ROiS," but it was not great artistic
success. Like all OF Lemaitre's plays Lies
Roi" was an exact reflection of his hes Ia
ton between good and bad, the real and the
| false. between despOtism and anarchy.
| fidelity to old traditions and faith in mod
ern revolutions.
! If Jules Lematre has his superior as
dramatiSt he is without doubt first among
! dramatic critics. Certainly Francisque
Sarcey mas great influence because of his
age and experience. but Francisque Sar-
cey's talent is on the wane, and soon he
will be only memory in the minds Of
| those who reverence nd fear his criticisms
to-day. Auguste Vitu is dead, Albert
! Wolff is dead, and the burden of criticism
| will soon fall en- ntirely on the shoulders of
| the compaTatIVely young Jules Lemaire.
Jules Lemaitre is one of Jules Janins
! successors in the journal des DebaIS, and
| there has been a great amount of good
| luck in his life. Born in 1853 he studied
at the Ecole Normale, and left that school
| with a high literary degree in 1875. He
1
| Havre, and there remained five years. His
earliest task, when appointed professor,
| was to question his class on La Fontaine.
! The first pupil began his answer, when
Lemaitre interrupted with, La Fontaine
was great writer, but what pity that he
| wrote fnblesW
From Havre, Jules Lemaitre sent some
| ar icles to the Dix-Neuvieme Steele, the
| journal of Edmond About and rraDcisque
Sarcey. But the professor had no idea of
| becoming journalist until some of his
! writings attracted the attention of NJ.
| Yung, editor of the Revue Bleue. Nj.
| Yung asked the young professor to write
/ for his magazine, and LemaitTe sent two
articles in year: in the meantime he had
published two volumes of poems which
! showed he had genuine pOetica talent, but
| the poet himself said: Il am % years old,
and at my age every body writes poetry"
In 1884 Lemaitre came to Paris, and then
! NJ. Yung asked him to write an article for
each number of the Revue Bleue. In Oc-
| tober. 1884, NJ. Lemaitre was almost un-
known, aud between that time and De-
! ce ember of the same year mis- criticisms of
| Znla. Renan, Daudet and Ohnet had made
| him famous.
Georges Ohnet was very badly treated
| by the critic in this, a well-known, review,
and although it had been quite the fashion
10 attack Ohnet. until Lemaitre no one
| had used such biting sarcasms, such
piouant comparisons. Since then Lee
maitre's example has been followed by
many, ana Ohnet's first serious critic must
often have wished TO take the defense OF
the author of ''MaitGe de Forces"
Lemaiire then said that OhDet had no
| observation that his plots had already
been worn threadbare; his characters
were conventional, his style ordinary. In
! fact his books formed only triple es-
sence de banalite. But Lemaitre at the
| same time confessed that these novels
I
| public taste, and that Ohnet was grace
full successor to Octave Feuillet. who had
| provided the French middle classes with
| novels little superior to the feuilletons
| they are apt to find in their popular news
papers.
Yes" says Jules Lemaitre. ''if Ohnet
writes for commonplace people he Is sue
ceSsfuI: because with them he is popular,
if we judge him by his work, his mind is
mediocre. and he must be thoroughly sat
| istied with the appreciation of his equals"
Lemaitre's criticism of Victor Hugo was
not very we'll received; it was rather dan
gerOus TO attack, even Indirectly, the idol
of the French literary world. and the
critic said: He is far from US, very far.
He is old without being ancient" And
again: st was impossible to cure Victor
Hugo's ignorance of souls, of human life
and its intrlcacieS."
In 1886. when j. j. Weiss became i'll,
critic of the Journal des Debats, and
about the same time he began publica-
lions in the Figaro. Who is it says that
The French make hero OF each CON-
patriot who dares to hold opinions differ
ent from those Of his fellows? OF course
when Lemaitre made an onslaught on
French writers. some of them known and
loved, others almost unknown, although
his compatriots differed from him they
admired his courage and gave him ped
eStal of success. The ignorance of the
in tricacles of human life which Lemaltre
reproaches to Victor Hugo cannot be at
tribnted to the critic himself, but his
criticism is often difficult 10 seize, and his
dramas often present so many aspects
that the public cannot grasp the dominant
idea. As l have said, Jules Lemaitre does
not believe in absolute affirmation, and
that is one of the criticisms made against
this universal critic. "He has never had
an opinion; he seems TO have no doctrine,
are attacks that the writer is always trying
to combat
''You say do not conclude. How can
l whe1 my impressions are SO complex? l
am told that my opiGions change from one
week to another. How can they change if
| have no OpinionS? l am subjective
critic. and l put my temperament, my own
conception of life into my writings. 1t is
with my own mind that L describe other
minds"
Lemaitre is often complimentary and un-
complimentary at the same time. For in
stance. ne once wrote of Celine Cbaumont,
the star of the Palais Royal Theatre:
''This little woman sparkles with inteli-
gence and malice. Ah, the charming
monkey
Jules Lemaitre has collected his dra-
matte criticisms iD series of volumes,
entitled Impressions de Theatre" aud
his II erary studies in series called LES
Contemporaries" His novels are "Serenus,
HistOire DUN Martyr" and "Dix Confess"
and his collection of pGems are called
'Medailions" and ''Petites Orentales."
Lemaitre's plays, besides LES Rois" and
Pardon" are "Un Marriage Blanc" Re
voltee" and "Le Depute Leveau," which
was a satire on General Boulanger. He is
very fond of writing for the theater, and
is always working on theatrical play.
He carries about with him little note
books, in which he writes his ideas, be he
in The theater, restaurant or on the street.
Lemaitre says: "When once an author
begins TO write for the theater he cannot
stop. L'appetit Went ell mangeant. To
write for the theater is most agreeable
pastime. Nothing is more amusing than
to place personages on the stage, 80 imag-
ing com bnations, etc. 1t is something like
a game of chess, and the actors are pawus
that must be skillfully moved"
Let US hope that lie Pardon" is SUI
perior to Lemaitre's previous play, and
that he has had the skill to arrange his
mir - Ifx.N b l, -