The sun., 1899-07-30
soME NEW BOOKS.


Can there be q more conclusive proof OF liter
ary vitality than the reproduction OF an authors
works long after his death by translations into
foreign lAnRuages1 1t has been said that the
verdict OF posterity concerning a writer's merit
10 foreshadow wed In that OF his foreign contem-
poraries. In the test which we begin by sug-
Rosting both conditions are present. to wit: re-
moteness OF time and difference OF the linguistic
medium through which tho mind is addressed.
Shakespeare Ia able to meet this test but what
English novelist can do it1 Walter Scott was
once admired almost as much on the Conti-
nent as he was In Great Britain, but, at
the end OF the nineteenth century. what
French or German publisher would dream
OF putting forth new and com
f!ete translation Of the Waverley novels2
What 10 true with regard to Scott is even truer
with regard to Dickens. who. compared with
the Wizard OF the North. had but few readers
on the Continent. and OF Thackeray, whose
reputation has been strictly limited to the
Anglo Saxon world. On the other hand. is
there any French writer OF prose fiction. be-
longing to a former generation. a new and
complete version OF whose stories would be at
this time deemed promising commercial VEN
ture by any English or American publisher
The Three Musk 4" and Monte Cristo"
still circulate in English versions made many
years ago. but nobody would think OF present.
Ing new anu even approximately compete
translation ofthe mutitudinous ovels credited
TO the older Dumas The Wandering jew" and
the Mysteries OF Paris" OF Eugene Sue still find
readers in England and the United States.
and the same thing may be said OF certain
novels OF George Sands but the proposal to
issue new and exhaustive translation Of the
works OF either of those writer's would b" r"-
jected as absurd. Such being the effect Of
time upon the productions Of almost all French
and English novelists, what are we to make OF
the fact that. although Honor6 de Bazac died in
1850. yet now. on the very eve Of the twentieth
century. no fewer than three translations Of
his novels. each putting forward pretensions to
completeness more or less justified are offered
TO the English speaking word2 One OF these.
issued by Roberts Brothers Of Boston has
been In course OF publication for some years;
It is deserving Of much commentator on the
score Of the English style. but 1t has this de-
merit. that many Of the volumes are
abridged. and almost all OF them are eH
purgated. second translation 10 being
brought forth in London under tho editorship
OF George Saintsbury: the prospectus omits
no fewer than eight volumes OF the Paris Edi-
tion Defnitire. besides tho "Contes Drola-
tiQues." Still a third translation. admirably
printed and illustrated has just been pub
lished In flfty-one volumes by q. Barrie son
OF PHILADELPHIA. This Is neither abridged nor
expurgated. and Is tho only English version
which may claim to present everything con
tanned In the Edition Dffnitiue brought ont in
Paris by Michel Levy in the seventies. When
We consider the amount OF capital that must
needs be embarked in the least complete Of
these trsnslations and keep in view at IA" sume
tme the date at which they are almost smul- |
taneously issued. we cannot hut recognize the |
weight OF the evidence thus forthcoming for |
the exceptional duration OF BaiIar's influence |
and charm.