The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-08-30

him as the great shadow of his early
! life. At the age of IL he was drawn
| to Paris, where his brother, Ernest
| Daudet. who has since become a well
! known man of letters, had preceded
/ him. The sum of SIS which Ernest
was earning monthly, kept the two
brothers until the dawn of better days.
! Alphonse was happy when. he could
give himself the luxury of a candle TO
write poetry at night. He worked in
a little mansard room, without comfort,
without heat, without food, but with
indOmitable courage and boundless
hope. In 1858, at the age of IS, he pup
lished Les Amoureuses," d small vol
ume of verses that were sufficiently no.
ticed to give him q start in the liter
airy world. Some of those who believed
in his literary future secured for him
the position of private secretary 10
De Morny, the half brother of Napo-
leon III and president of the legislative
assembly Independently of the knowl-
edge of men which this position en-
abled him to secure. it also meant
financial ease. During this period he
sought his way either in the lSnt
drama or in journalism.
The hardships of his life during the
trying days and the strain of his Pa
risian existence so endangered MS
health that he was forced to travel IN
Algeria, Sardinia, Corsica and Pro-
vence. His prosperity and his rapid
popularity exercised a bad influence
upon him. He was saved from the de-
terioration of bohemianism by his mar
riage and helped to a higher literary
/ ideal by Nine. Daudet, who remained
all through his career a great factor
in his success. In 1868 he issued lie
Petit Chose''-"The Little Cha"
sort of photographic novel. In 1853
he published his famous "Lettres de
Mon Moulin''-'Lettars From My Mill.
The Franco Prussian way affected him
deeply and called forth those short
stories which. told the tragic suffer-
ings of the fatherland. Some of these
stories are as touching and as beauti-
full as the war paintings of De Melville.
THE Last Cartridges" of the latter is
akin to THE Siege of Berlin" and THE
Last Class of Daudet. In 1872 Tar
tarin de Tarascon' made its appear
ance Meanwhile he was preparing
himself for more important work. Dur
ing the next fourteen years he wrote
his best and most enduring novels
Jack" LIE Nabab,' Les Rois en-
EXIT c'The King in Exile')-not to
speak of other works in which he seems
to have acted with apparent ethical in
difference. 1t is at this time that he
felt the influence of naturalism, when
was then so potent as to sweep every
thing in its course. lola and De Con
court left their traces upon him, the
signs of naturalistic methods became
visible, but Daudet had too much spon-
taneity to be enslaved by the tenets OF
literary school. In 1888 he published
Il Evangelist" and in 1888 Lin
mortel." the former a satire of French
Professionalism and the latter Of the
French academy. In 1885 and in 1880
he gave to the world two more Tartar
Loo Inc nd
"Port-Tarascon''-; ending the Sc
ries of the Provencal satires. 1t would
be impossible to enumerate all his
works without making a very long and
wearisome list. Like most French novel
lists, he often endeavored. to reap lau-
rels upon the stage, but without great
success. However by the quantity of
fascinating reading matter which he
gave the public he stands second to
none OF his contemporaries.
His Tartarins are among the most
exquisite creations of modern satire.
Wishing TO expose to ridicule the boast
ful and bombastic ss,rit of southern
France he did il in his three Tartarins.
Never had French literature seen finer
wit and more bubbling humor at the
service of truth than in these fascinat-
ing extravaganzas. His 'Lettres de
Mon Moulin La Belle Nivernaise"
and his many other short, varied poe
tic compositions give him the undis-
puted position of a master. Most of
them need only rhymes to be the choic-
est idvls of our own times. ,Remarka-
BILE by their variety of subjects, elab-
crate by rich and playful magma
ton, they have an exquisite form-a
form not the fruit of classical training,
but of a highly gifted nature.
Among his novels, lie Petit Chose
would have been fascinating bit of
literary art had it not been marred by
the fictitious adventure of a contempt
ible, fictitious woman in book which
was the story of his own life Daudet
always worked from models. this time
himself. He has shown his greatest
power in Jack" the Poor victim OF
wretched would-be writer; lie Ma