The Washington times., 1903-06-21
A. TnSSerand TALKS Enter
tamingLy of oAmertcan
Writer'S, Traits, Models,
ana Standing cAbroad.

>
ent Is Extremely Popular
in Paris.
The ambassador of France. says the
Philadelphia Public Ledger" is a per-
Eonage with whom it behooves the Amer
lean people to get acquainted. In the
two or three months his excellency has
now spent at Washington he has, in
deed. won the esteem of a large circle:
his utterances on all public occasions
have been most felicitous, and the cir
cumstance that he is the husband of an
American wife. coupled with his own
social graees, has made him already a
marked figure in Washington.
NJ. Jusserand is one Of the few promi-
nent in the diplomatic world today who
Illuminate their profession with special
accomplishments I'm literature and
scholarship The country has lately be-
come acquainted. in some degree with
the peculiar charm of Gallican culture,
through the recent visits of such French
critics as CASTOR Deschamps. Hugues
lie Roux. and Mabilleau. A man of wide
intellectual hospitality and nimble sym
pathy. the ambassadors cosmopolitan
experiences have enlarged the liberality
of outlook and sharpened the keenness
OF critical faculty native to his country
men. and give especial weight TO his
opinions. as they make conversation
with him in the highest degree delight
full
Among his books N. Jusserand readily
talked Of American literature and Amer
lean traits. great folio roster of the
French regiments which participated in
the Revolutionary war. newly compiled
and magnihcently bound in red morocco
stamped with the arms of France and
the United States, lay on table await
ing presentation to President Roosevelt.
Beside it lay a set of Poe in the new
edition.
Edgar Allan Poe.
Il profess" said the author Of Ia
Vie Nomade ct les Routes d'Angle-
terre au XIV Steele" nothing that
might be called special knowledge OF
American literature, and have really no
right 10 venture upon any critical npin-
ions OF course / know-as who does
something Of the glories Of your
letters and should be ashamed II I
were altogether ignorant Of them; the
more so that 1 have Just been made
honorary member OF your Authors Club.
And very charming was the manner OF
my election 10 this honor. accompanied
as it was by the presentation TO me Of
this fine set OF the works OF your tale
writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe
chosen because he had been praised in
France. ana by no less critic than
Sainte- Beuve And I may say that this
writer has not only many readers in
France. but has had a marked Influence
On some OF our own best known authors
The use he made OF the terrific, his
great efforts produced by simple means
and a simple style in works Of a small
compass. were indeed new combina>
tion Of gifts. Compare weirdness. as he
understood it. 10 weirdness in use ne
fore him: compare The Raven TO The
Mysteries OF Udolpho. And yet I should
hardly call him representative Aneri-
can writer The dark. the somDer.
weird. gruesome-au this is far from
characteristic OF your national genius
and OF your literature.
Bret Harte Well Liked.
much more American. If my judg-
ment be in any degree correct. is one
whom you have but lately lost-Bret
Farte. a renovator. with extreme diff
ferencos. OF the art OF that other Amer
lean. the friend of the childhood 20 us
all Fenimore Cooper
"Of course. you may say that Bret
Hartc ls not typically American in that
h. pictures American people only in
an out-of-the-w corner. Il is quite
t,ne that his work Is highly specialized.
What he knows best Is a passing tran
sieIt phase Of life which I perfectly
understand IS as remote from the per
sCnal knowledge OF many Americans as
IL is from that OF all Frenchmon. cali
fornia is as distant from the rooms I'm
which we sit in this capital as Teheran
II from Paris
And yet Bret Harte's work is not
merely an exquisite genre work: nor
doer Il owe its total charm to the cir
culng tance OF thc picturesqueness OF
flontier existence. lt is fun OF uni
ycrsal Significance its human quality is
fuil and deep. aud iu its directness.
vigor. and its humor fit is thoroughly
and churacteristically American To
my feeling the tales OF Bret Harte have
a. epic sweep. They throb with ele-
mental. primitive human passion. like
tho deathless Hellenic legends and the
scandinavian sagas-
I'VE ia France set much store by the
short story. We were tho first TO excel
IN telling tales at the remote opocn whom
Europe began % have literature. Those
wEo. in the twelfth century. could tel
the story OF 'Aucassin and NIcolIette
were meant 10 be- in after ages good
story tellers. and they proved 50 through
centuries. and up TO our date up ia
Vigny. McrimeC and Daudct
French Influence.
Bret Harte's stories have almost
nothing in common with our contes. ex-
cept that they are good ones And yet
his genius owed TO a French story teller
fits awakening. He told me once that