New-York tribune., 1901-05-11
DodI Mead & Co.

| eguism, as reelected in her Journal" stirred up
much talk when that production was published
ten or twelve years ago. 1t contains doCu-
| ments which might well be Incorporated I'm its
! predecessor; diary covering the period from
! October 6. lNSi. 10 July g 1851. and a brief
! correspondence with Guy de- Maupassant These
/ pages continue the strain Of trivial introspec-
/ ton. Of vain craving after fame which the
unhappy girl mistakenly imagined was worth
commemoration on paper Here is a character
/ istc passage:
Ever since / dressed myself I'm Paris 1 have
struggled against the stupid and uucouth fash
! ions. Five years ago asked for drap-rlcs and
/ c2IsaEss gathered lfr1nctsl open at the neck
l'''Idi ..,Sl. nay Jno.'SIcAI, or Louis Ky, am
u4ua skirts. Jewish robes. / passed as very
eccentric, but thanks o. working FOR hours at
Laf-rri,ra's Worth's. Doucet's. the fashion has
taken. for two years one has seen only neeligca
df-lerlrs. irllls. h"HuS. sashes. The fashions
ln'St run aLt.r an 'oucrts are of my invention.
And none II them bear my name
Alas! This cry OF the heart is indeed enough
10 draw tears To the eyes of a wooden image,
But how about the eyes Of men and women?
| VIII they drop their watery tribute of sympathy
for this soul defrauded and forIorn? We trow
not Yet I'm all seriousness. II IS difficult not
10 grant this victim Of self-absoI ption and NOR
, bidity need of compassion. Il am engaged in
replying 10 Guy de Naupassant she writes I'm her
diary, when she has sent a picture 10 the Salon.
| Il could not have done anything. so impa-
! tenty do I await the vanishing Verify. lit
erature is capturing me. Vanish Dumas Zola
all, 1t is | who arrive. But | shall open the
Figaro and the 'Gaulois' with trembling! II
they say nothing it is a disaster And If they
sTeak what will they say? My heart stops at
the thought. then beats slowly" The note of
solicitude for her fame is necessarily heard
We give another illustration:
To myself my picture seems an old painting
Ana then / no longer see the necessity of any
thing at all What should invent that is new
In art2 If tins is not So TO make ones way
with the flash of meteor what is the good
Of IL? To have talent? That only? Then af-
is sad. dreadful black. What shall | become?
What do? Where go? Why? How TO be
happy? I am weary before | have done any
thing. have used up all enjoyments in imagi-
nation; have dreamed Of such great things that
what may come TO me will be small beside them
Ana them and them Then. Tomorrow the
day after. or in eight days. some fooery will
happen which Will change the current OF my
ideas and then the thing will begin all over
again. and then death.
The next day she records that she went TO
Nine. Hochon's, Ito receive compliments on my
picture; she describes the dress she wore, men
tions the charming people who were there and
amused her, and, with unexpected common
sense. observes: Il must really go out this lit
No party has done me good" Perhaps if she
had interested herself in others more she would
have changed the whole drift Of her life leading
il into healthful channels. But no. she must
continue to think of herself: when she is bored
she wonders why she should be. concludes that
lit IS the month OF May that troubles me-
probably" and leaves us. for all our pity impa-
tient Of her jangling nerves and peevish vanity
Maupassant is mildly dverting in the letters TO
her which given I'm this book a. he as
sures her, "am not the man you seek / have
not halfp'orth OF poetry l take everything
with indifference. and I pass two-thirds of my
time in profound boredom" 1t is interesting to
read his declaration that AIlet is his favorite
painter among the moderns and that he has a
horror Of music. But not even Maupassant
can keep this book from leaving bad taste in
the mouth. as Of something mock heroic. tin
sey. and incurably. nauseatngy morbid.