The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-06-19
LITERATURE OF TODAY
DAUDET's LAST NOVEL, HEAD
OF THE FAMILY"

OF THE FAMILY
"The judge" by Mrs. Ella w. Peat
tie-''The Standard Bearer" by
8. r.. Crockett--"Ai Revolution
airy Love Story" by Ellen OIney
Kirk-Note. of June Books and
Magazines.
| n. 1f.s
| Under the title of 1.-THE Head of the
Family" the Putnarns publish a trans
lation of Daudet's last novel. lie
! Soutien de 2FanMlle" The illustrations
| are by Marchetti, and the book Is
prefaced with a~critical sketch by Prof.
| Adolphe Conn., of Columbia. Daudet's
last novel .wauld command interest
from the fa&tsthat tits the final work
of his penM ana the. publishers have
taken pains to Introduce it fittingly to
an American audience, but it is to be
doubted II it receives any very warm
reception Theetruth Is, as Prof. Cohn
suggests inahisf just and interesting es-
say, that there We're two Daudets. The
one was ae poet. a man of. insight
imagination, of exquisite taste. This
was the Daudet who wrote "Lettres de
Mon Moulin,"f and q the ''Contes de
I.undi." The other Daudet was a real
list, to whom ''the everyday events that
ne came across were SO interesting
that he at times hardly dared to alter
them when Introducing them into his
books" He has, perhaps, transferred
bodily into his writings more actual
events related in the newspapers, in
the court house or in society than any
other writer Of the present age; of
some of his novels one hardly dares
say they are works of fiction; their
characters are men and women of our
time; we know their names, and they
do in the book almost exactly what
they have done in. real life .,,--
While 1T may be that life and it's
casual incidents were sacred to Dau-
Diet because of, the reality of them,
what is certain is that, while faith
fully transcrfbing these incidents, he
often fails to make the reader feel the
sacredness, or even the Importance, of
the actualities he prizes so highly. AS
a result, the atmosphere of his books
is not that Of great novels. It might
almost be said that the seal of a great
novel, without which none is genuine,
is the impression it gives the reader Of
the value, the Importance Of the life
it depicts. This impression is crowd
ed out in Daudets long stories, and
pend upon them. but upon his exquisite
contes. in which, on the other hand,
it is the, bulky, .distasteful and un-
necessary mass of fact and detail that
gets crowded out.
The stories are by their plan too
short to admit of the authors favortte
tampering with the events of reality.
They are Of his Imagination all COM
pact, and the result is tenderness,
grace, beauty. to a degree he nowhere
else achieved. ~
While 1.-The Head of the Family" is.
not open to The accusation of being as
much overladen with fact as 1.-The Ma
bob" for instance lit still is somewhat
dry and harsh in treatment. 1t is the
story of the two sons of a suicide,
man who had failed in business and
killed himself when he saw disgrace
before. him. For the elder son, the
clever one, who is to be the support
and redemption Of the family, as they
think, that family makes enormous
sacrifices. He unjust be kept at school,
given. a profession, allowed to go into
society provided with a. separate
apartme HtssWhile his younger brother
becomes practical electrician and
turns over his servings cheerfully for
the use of mother sister and brother.
T The elder foffierss Raymond, taking
everything and giving nothing, regards
h1nlSeft as put fIrpfln and weighed DOWN
by The BURDEN Of the family, who are
in reality nI ding him and suffering
from his fslgfatitnsIe and extravaganza.
With such theme the book should
be a more moving one than it Is. Ray
mondss sci fish subscription and Anto-
nin,ssg generous self -forgetfu1ness should
not leave the reader cold, as they do.
Somehow. the magic touch is lacking.
But the charm which Is wanting to the
main incidents of the tale attaches it
self to some Of the less, and in the I'M
likely and engaging romance of Dina,
the daughter of the family, will be
found all the .delicacy, grace and fan
cy which are lacking elsewhere. The
reader Is left to wonder if it is not the
very improbability of little Dina's love
story that caused Daudet to lavish on
the incident all his resources of del
icats feeling and expression, and if,
after all, in spite Of fame and fortune,
he is not an artist who missed his vo-
cation, in that he insisted upon MAX
ing himself a. realist in spite Of
we'll defined 4eaH" to romance.
1.-The Head of the Family by A. Daudet.
s1-50. G. P. Putnam's Sons. For sale by
the St. Paul Book and Stationery COM
pany. ~: