New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-08-13

bv "Salammb6" which is in turn followed ny
"I,Fducation ScntinentaIe' and this Is sep
orated from "Bouvard ct Pecuchet by Id
Tentation de Saint Antoine That Is 10 say
the pendulum swings with ineXorable regularity
from realism To romance, from romance ~
realism and so it would have swung IL rIauoe''
had lived to be ninety instead OF hitE-e'sh''
and taking weeks instead of years to cofhp'e'e
n book had quadruplei the work he iei' ~
-oe.orftv In the presence of this dualism it Is
diGicuI, n say in which direction his gifts were
the happier in exercising themselves Out VI
Faruet nuts the matter rather neatly IN saying
that "imaginatiOn was his Muse ana rea"'S H'
conscience" one might expect III SuCh Na
that the Muse would oftenest conquer S'nce S",
,su.uv engages the heart as we'll as the NINA
Of her devotee. But Flauberts fo''''"'
stopped short at the gateways oil the Sou'' Ni
Faguet sums it up felicitousy as - ro''"''
tisne descriptf: L. romantisme non Seh'''i'e"'''
ct elegiaque; le romantisme non "cu'V'
"a cbr6,ion mails le romantisme de la couleur
81 des rythmes; 70 romantisme pctural' soup
tur,l Of musical" In other words. it was the
romance Of the surfaces of things not OF ther
souls. that appealed to Flaubert and that ne
mastered He could paint a spectacle ne
could not on a romantic scene at least MAKE
human life real and poignant in his pages
i is at this point that We find VI. Faguet an
exceptionally judicous critic he Is just ~
"ca,ammh5 but he admits that the best part
Of that book is the pictorial. spectacular part
Tho heroine he compares to a lgurine placed
above enormous bass-reliefs, criticism an'ic'-
,o,.d bv TIauhert himself The descriptions are
Gorgeous The characters arr thiniy realized
and the drama in which they are involved is so
ne -
difference to their fate. The choice Of subject
I,b,l,ss had something to do with the au-
tbor's failure to command sympathy for his
,rsonoses as NJ Faguet notes, he Is trust
worthy observer f human life only when he Is
i,lo,rirr among living men and women. He
,,uld Worship the Oriental landscape and paint
i, ,au hut when he tried To people II with
romantic figures he could 10 no more than place
\ patch Of color where seutent creature
.,,ight 10 have gone He succeeded better with
bi. conscience, than with his muse. Sdlammbo
and La Tentation he Saint Antoine are fun OF
color. If certain pictorial br!lliancy. but the
vitality of IN. H. missing ON the other hand.
..N,Iarue Boyary' deserves most Of TN" lauda-
tony things VI Faguet has - say about IT. we
shrink. u is True from his bold Confession mat
for HIM Emma Bovary s. the most complete
p.rtra., of a woman he know, IN al, literature;
statements Of this sort have bad way oi
meaning more than the author intends Such
weeping language puts Nine BoNaiy on
YER. lofty pedestal. whereas. after y,u have
Granted that h"r portrait - indeed cNtra'idi-
r..riiv complete You perceive that sh" Was not
m. kind Of chara .tcr that makes such chinese
fidelity worth while. and therefor" takes sub
sp.iary place IN th" portrait gallery Of Hter-
a,lr. Let us p>orlp)ll for the moment how
.,.r IA. essentially iguobi. plane On which the
n.ures ~ this novel are placed The author
himself moves 30 a higher elevation than any
h. ever knew in any other # his works 1t IS
=, -Mtdtm. B1Nary' that the reader must turn
for the finest illustrations Of that literary art
II which Flaubcrts followers make - much.
The book j. depressing and il Is superb. II Is
eiiuerb because narrow as il -, II l. profoundly
true. and furthermore. because IN ms truit OF
surprhuman effort Faubert succeeded in fuSnS
il, perfect unity his substance and his style He
was A writer u whom life was one long study
of literary expression A bad phrase strangles
mo" he used to say. and there are fewer OF
them in Madame Bovary" than in any other
French novel Of the century Some words and
forms move VI Faguct to dissent but one may
say of nearly an the pages that no words could
be- added to them nor could any be- taken away.
/ 1t -, moreover, on" OF ln' singular pr"u'''H
Of this pcssimistic but beautiful book that il
does not give so much ; hint OF the authors
travail NJ Faguct points out what every
reader Of the letters has noticed. that Flaubrrt
did not write naturally IN a pure and powerful
style He knew how he was handicapped. and.
m any case ne hated. in literature. facilc
style TO counteract his Unborn tendencies. and
/ in protest against the needless ways OF the
mob Of gentlemen who write with ease he
framed for his guidance rules to which. ia his