The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1897-04-22

followed by suffering, ana then came the
reaction. He has checked his course, but
not his pen.
From verse D'Annunzio turned his at
tenticn to prose and selected the novel as
the most fitting vehicle for his thoughts.
OF these he has turned out u series of
three which he calls "Romances of the
Rose and of which "The Triumph Of
Death" is the last On these his rcputa-
ton is based. They have circulated much
more widely than his poems. OF their
character little moro need be said than
that when they were translated into
French Paris read them and was shocked.
But Paris recovered, and now everything
that D'Annunzio has ever written is in
great demand in the French capital.
D'Annunzio's novels are undoubtedly
salacious, but the critics agree in saying
that they are not vulgar, as those of Zola
often are, while they are even more artistic
than De Maupassant's stories. In 1.-The
Triumph of Death" for instance, he gives
this beautiful description of the sounds
made by the sea:
"The water laughed, moaned, prayed,
sang, caressed, sobbed, threatened-by
turns joyous, plaintiyc, humble, ironical,
coaxing, pleading, detected, cruel 1t dash
ed to the summit Of the highest rock, to
I'LL the little cavity round as II votive cup;
IL crept into the oblique crevice where
swarmed the mollusks; it sank into the
soft carpets Of coralline, tearing them and
creeping as lightly as serpent on bed
of moss"
But side by side with such poetic pas
sages occur revolving descriptions Of the
| most horrible scenes, such as his picture
of the shrine of tho Virgin at Lourdes and
| the ghastly crowd of pilgrims who 20
there. His egotism equals his sensualism.
| His heroes are always himself and he has
them analyze with startling frankness all
| the passions. Each book, in fact, is little
more than n monologue in which the Gu'
thor describes his thoughts and his feel
ings. There is nothing concerning the
psychological phenomena of love which he
does not dare to dissect. He glories in his
own yiciousness and in one of his recent
books writes
"Praise be TO smy ancestors who, from
remote centuries, have transmitted to inc
their rich and feryid blood. Praise be tC
| them, now and forever, for the glorious
wounds they opened, for the glorious con
| 1agrations they kindled, for the fair COB
lets they drained, for the fair garment:
! they wore, for the fair women they en-
| lOyed, Tor all their SluuBhlefS ana lntON
ications their cXtrayagances and eXcessos
since they formed in me these five senses
in which thou, o beauty of the world
Canst vastly and profoundly mirror thy
self as in five vast and profound seas"
Needless to say D'Annun2io's novels are
not for the young person. But neither is
"Rabelais" or "BoccaGciO" or Lott" A
curious feature about them is their lack Of
action but this is fully made up for by AZ
intense realism which is salmost as exciting
Even the most cultivated literary palate
will find them highly spiood, and you know
that tabasco is only endurable to the train
ed gourmet. While the critics whose men
tai tastes become accustomed to works Law
ishly seasoned with literary curry and gar
lie find them inoiYensiye, the average
American reader will probably forget that
D'Annunzio is artistic and put him down
as nasty. At any ratio II is TO be hoped that
he viii be kept in expensive boards witt
gilt edges and not DO allowed TO spread
himself broadcast in pratod paper cover
editions AIFnFn " RoWLEY