The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-05
BOOKS IN, FRANCE.
ENGLISH WRITERS OF TODAY UNKNOWN ACROSS CHANNEL
Demand fer Zola's Works-Dickens and Scott Standard Favorites with the French-Hard to
 Translate First Named.

London Mail.
 A reporter had an interesting conver- ficials of the house of Flammarion, the well-known Paris publisher. and book seller. Of all authors, alive and dead, foreign and native. Guy de Maupassant popular in France. All his books sell steadily, and moreover, De Maupassant is the obvious inspirer; of the successful school of modern French novelists. Sem timent-the sentiment of De Maupassant is the keynote of their work-perhaps one might use a stronger phase and de- scribe 1t as "unwholesome sentimental ity" without injustice.
 It was curious t6 note in talking to this extremely intelligent and courteous gentleman that the most popular Eng fish novelists of the day-Marie Coreiii. Hail Gaines, s. R. Crockektt, and so on"- larly the French writers with the great est vogue just now, such as Pierre Louys. the author of Les Aventures du Roi Pausole," now in it's sixteenth thous- zance" and Michael Corday whose nov el. Venus, ou les dex Risqques," has been one of the most discussed books of the year. are quite unknown here. The fact celebrity. a writer has to have a great deal more than mere average ephemeral ability.
 Zola and the Elder Dumas
 Alexander Dumas pere still holds the suffrages of the French. and thousands of his books sell every year It would be difficult to arrive at any exact informa- oning the immense sale of Dumas in England. America and the Continent out side France, he must be read more than any author who ever wrote.
 There is a great demand for Zola. de- spite his Dreyfusard tendencies, particu- larly for his earlier works. Alphonse Daudet sells as do, of course. the living French authors we'll known on this side of the channel-Pierre Loti, Gyp, and Paul Bourget. There is a popular twen~ ty-five centimes-a-volume edition of Mo- Here which goes fairly well. but our in formant did not consider that there was classic literature or for what may be called fine reading of any sort. The French" he said. like love stories first of all and afterwards memoirs, and they care for little else
 Marie Bashkirtsefrs last collection of letters and Dreyfus's "Cinq Annes de Ma Vie" have both been comparative fail- ures, and for the same reason, that the general interest in both their personali- ties has very largely decreased. On the other hand. literal translation of 'The Arabian Nights" by Dr. Mandrus. now being issued in fifteen volumes at six francs Ni.2O volume, is selling readily.
 Cheap English Novels.
 Engllsh novels are mostly known to the French public as a cheap and handy red covered edition issued by. the house of Hachette. Dickens and Scott are the two most popular writers. and various booksellers differ as to which is most popular. Dickens. of course, suffers most ill translation. and his humor and his characters are so absolutely "Cockney'' that 1t Is difficult to quite understand how French readers comprehend him at all. A Paris newspaper published recent ly column of Wellerisms and the col lection could hardly have increased Dick ems reputation as wit. To put Dick ems into French Is as difficult as to put Rostand into English.
 Thackeray has certain sale, and Ouida Is also in demand. By far the most popular recent English book is however. Augustin Fiions admirable translation of Lord Roseberry's "Napo-