New-York tribune., 1901-12-08
FICTION.
,v,c LIFE AND SLAVIC AUTHORS.

BEFORE THE pAwN. story Of , R"Iian Haa2hid1 n5@e
By Iimenoh-Nobie- LIMO PP' '
Mifiiin x Co
THE DFATH rsadd GF Tdf bT TN} sfbePt Treneh l2n@,
pp 44. G p Putnams sons
THE ARGoNAUTs BY Eliza orzeszk0 r,tI Tra4sa3 75a6
ed from the Polish 10y Jereiilin III ILL.,
pp 2sl Charles Scribners sons.
ur Edmund Noble is an American; his wife
H -. birth = Russian: their names conJolled
~, the title page of Before the Dawn SIGNIFY
collaboration This collaboration results IN an
accuracy OF description and a soiditE "i I'''.
which. even without the intrinsic interest oL
the interviewer story. would make "oi'
readina; 10y any one who desired to uhdeIS'''4u
the Russian conditions Of twenty years a9''
Perhaps there is a it'll" c"cksuIeness IN placing
labels on persons and places. making the oooh
hard to read aloud. Fortunately the plot IS
sufficiently viyacious and natural TO Keep one
reading to the end The heroine is a gracious
,reation-a girl student animated with lofty
ideals and not in any sense of the word Nj
biIist Sh,. does charitable work. and while en-
paced in one of the poorer quarters OF flter,
as Peters1url, IS Familiarity called, she eX-
presses her indignation at the brutal cohduct Oh
the police who happen TO make a doihltliiaiE
visit at the hous.. She IS herself arrested ana
.interned' in a little village OF the lower Folsa'
where a considerable part of the acton axes
place. There is mystery about Iatlaha I-o-
tan6va which is intimately connected with the
woof Of the story and is not explained until
the very end 1 also concerns another fanny
the members Of which serve sort of chorus
for the scenes that pass in Petersburg. The me
dipyal or primitive drama which personitied
virtues and vices finds kind of reflection in
the Russian novel of types" 1t is one of the
distinctions Of Slavic fiction. In this respect
"Pefore the Dawn" is genuine a Rus
sian novel as if t had been translated instead
of written It first hand in English Forsythe
is the type" of The English tutor; Tatiana is
the ''tyIe" OF the progressive woman student
and so on The succession of scenes-now an
Orgy in the 'Samarkand,' a glimpse OF
the OPERAS wholly in the Russian manner
Some Of the descriptions are given with much
ViVaCity, and the Kaleidoscope variety is not
confusing. There is ranting, there is no
preaching: the difference between proper meth
eds of nstructon and those that obtain under
the control Of the Holy Synod is cleverly shown
by single scen4 from Father GregOry's school.
where Tatiand's soul is torn within her at its
insufiicency. The aim of the book is high
and optimistic; t is good. wholesome reading,
as we'll instructive.
While the PimenoT- Noble story though writ
ten originally in English, is entirely Russian
spirit and substance, tneft Is nolilHS SldNlC
about The Death Of the Gods ambitious
tale of the fourth century. except the name of
the. author whi>h Is Polish. The general i'm
preston that it gives is one of intense rest
lessress. The reader is carried with breathless
celcIity all Europe and Asia. Rome, Stras-
burg. Milan, Cappadocia. Macellum, Seleucia,
Athens. Paris. Antioch and Persia cre sue
cessively tie scenes where the action goes on.
The old fashioned idea Of unity of time and
place was never more openly violated. The
action covers practically the whole of the IN
peror Julian's life. beginning with his confine-
ment in the ruined old castle of Macellum and