New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-23
THE UTGGER IN LITERATURE.
HIS REMUNERATION IN AN ITALIAN
NOVELIST AND POET.

LTNNOCENTE Romano di Gabrielle D'Annunzlo
PIP. $12. Mlano: Fratelli Ireves
TRIONFO DELLA MORTE, Romano d. Gabrielle ;al,.eI
D'Annunzo. PIP XII. i92 Miano: Fratell IreVes
LIE yERoTSI DELE RoccE k KG%anno f a Gn
Treves.
GIOVANNI Ep1scoPo hi Gabrielle D'Annnnzio
PIP xiv. 1876. Napoli Luigi Pierro
EPIsCOPo AND COMPANY. BY Gabrielle D'A an
nunzio Translated by Myrta Leonora Jones fp
xiii 122 Chicago: Herbert s Stone Co
LIsOTTEO-LA CIIIMERA dss5-iSsSl ID Gabrielle
ID Annunzio PIP. 33S. Milano: Frateili Treves'
POEMA PARADISIACO-ODI NAVAL 0Ssl-ls0
hi Gabrielle D'Annunzo. PIP. 226. Milano: Fra
tell Treves.
In one of the Jungle books there Is narra-
tive which takes hold of the imagination as
might a ghoul in a particularly grewsome night
marc This tale is dedicated to saurian
abomination which establishes itself at point
on an Indian stream where the neighboring
village frequently sends II the prey 1t prefers
The hoary old crocodile lies in walt in the
PUSHES snaps at the native who ventures I'M
Willingly within reach and after saving the
body for certain length Of time, devours IL
with unction Mr.. Kping has never surpassed
the imaginative realism Of this performance
When the "mugger'' lifts his Jaws above
the water you feel that they are dripping with
indescrbable things, and he sends shvers up
and down your spine-shivers that would turn
into disgust If the author did not come to the
rescue with his genius In the literature OF to-
dav the mugger in another form, exercises
powerful sway lie is to be discerned among the
we'll -dressed and we-educated writers OF nc
ton gloating over the unmentonable contents
of the charncl house. rolling his eyes In ecstasy
over a new disease, and gazing upon death win
apostrophes to its majesty Issuing steadily
from, his lips He really knows about as much
concerning the majesty and beauty Of death as
does a iackal or Mr.. Kipllngs mugger.
Sipnor D'Annunzio impresses the reader In this
way He Is fond of death: the concluding volume
in the trogy which he has the subtle impudencc
to call II Romanzi della Rosa" is kind OF apo
theosis of mortuary banalites-assumed by some
TO be "ideas-and Is itself entitled "Trionfo della
Morte" one does not ge: to the bottom OF the
first page before the hero scents a corpse, and
when the last line of the last Of nearly I'VE num-
dred pages is Overtaken. the climax comes In the
same sinister way. the sepuchral Giorgio and
his engaging Ippolita die together horribly
h,oodilv with cries of "Assassino" rising
from the agonized throat of the woman.
Yet sgnor DAnnunzio we are told. is
great writer: he is supreme master OF art
How wearisome it all Is, the familiar cant about
tastic things. How wearsome Is signor DAN
nunzio, But the volumes stand there not incon-
siderable in number, certainly Of big bulk, and all
wrapped round in the glamour Of a tremendous
vogue It is impossible to read them with con-
tentment to say nothing Of pleasure, but IT Is
equally impossible to neglect them. For some
time we have been compelled to follow Signor
DAnnunzio through the various episodes Of his
li.ararv career unimpOrtant I'm themselves, but
significant as the object Of a new cult: and now
the noise made about NJ Herelle's TRANSACTIONS
from him in Paris has excited an American pub
Usher to take advantage Of popular interest In
current craZes In "Eplscopo and Company we
have a version OF one Of D'Annunzio's shorter
volumes. Giovanni Episcopo.' achieved with en-
thusiasm by Miss Myrta Leonora Jones. Plain
Is there Is no way Of avoiding discussion OF this
most conspicuous Of recent Italian novelists. The
task is hardly to be approached without repug-
nance. 1t is not 1atterinG 70 ones faith In ones
age to have to admit that writer like ID An
nunzio is being hailed miracle. as a genius
who marks the beginning Of another Italian Re-
Nuisance That hurts philosophical pride. which
likes to think that whatever we Of the nine
teenth century may make at least we have our
eyes wide open. at least we cannot be taken in.
Signor D'Annunzio has taken in some Of his con-
temporaries with a completeness that leaves
nothing to be desired.
OF course the victims will not admit that they
have been vlctimized. Even a decadent Is HUI
man. But their speech bewrayeth them The
Italians admirers are the devotees OF Nletzsche
in Germany. of Verlaine and Catulle Mendes IN
France. OF the little Nletzsches and Hitler Yer
LANES in England. Every one knows the mean
ing Of "art" as they practise 1t and aud IT; every
one knows that they stand for what Is presumptu-
Gus. affected. anaemic and base. 1t Is from this
school that we hear most about the author or i
Romanzi della Rosa and II ROmanzi del Giglio.'
They tell he belongs among the bright spirits
of the age that he enshrines his inspired thoughts
in inspired language, that. above all things. he Is
.tvpical"-which. Of course. at the present stage
of civilization. is a transcendently important mat
ter. oh do be early English" sing the pretty
girls in Patience" but to-day we hear another
tune: "Oh. do be typical be typical. and we'll
proclaim Tree great Let us turn TO Sgnor
DAnnunzio and ascertain. if possible wherein he
is typical and what 1t Is he "typihes." He be-
longs through his temperament (Which provides
not merely the atmosphere but the substance OF
his books) to the neo-pagan school which counts
Giosue Carducci as its most eminent member. II
not its ttular head. D'Annunzio processes To ad
mire the great modern lyrist Of the peninsula, and
II is because ne has aimed at some Of the masters
goals at a return 20 pure nature, at a revival Of
the classic ideal of Epicurean liberty. that he may
be assigned to the school Just mentioned But
the Younger writer falls far short of the elder
strain Of thought and emotion in Italy. There IL
sunshine in Carducc there the fresh green
CLEANS Of the forest. there are the milk-white
flashes Of dryads dancing through unsullied
woods and always there Is the pure sky
head the dewy grass underfoot. Signor Dan
nunzio changes all this. For him the blithe spirit
of the pagan era is unnatural impossible, and he
walks shrouded in a cheap pesslmism. He has
admitted that his novels are on the whole. pre-
sentiments of his own psychological states. and
we get In I'll Piacere." through the nominations Of
Andrea Spirelll at one end Of the line. the same