New-York tribune., 1909-01-17
rSpecIaI nv French Gable TO The Tribune.1

Oh lIlc ultIINe4l POCN civ S'AONN 00-'
Especial by French Gable to The Tribune.1
Paris Jan 16-'While Anglo-Saxon critics,
led astray by the calumnies OF Griswold, old not
render full justice to the talents of Edgar Allan
Poe, a Frenchman. Charles Baudelale' was
synitten with admiration and love for this uh-
recognized genius in 1916. Said he: became
acquainted with some fragments of Edgar Allan
Poe's writings. 1 experienced profound COM
motion He rushed about in his excite
ment asking all whom he met, DO you kho"
Edcar Poe?' He at once set himself to obtain
a thorough knowledge of the English language
in order to endow France with the works Oh
Poe and in this Baudelaire triumphed
"TheophiIe Gautier declared that Baudelalres
transations produced the effect OF Original
works. of which they had all the genial per-
fection. Baudelaire FrenChifed Poe. Thanhs
TO him. the American writer has exercised an
enormous influence our literature 1t cannot
be denied that the reading of Poe has drawn tiie
attention of French writers to that obscure sue
Of the soul from which spring fear. haIIuciha-
tions and all such impulsive movements 1his
influence is found in Barley d'Aurevtliy, nota-
b1v in his Les Diaboliques'; in Gerard de Ner-
val in Guy de Maupassant. in his 'Fou' MS
.Horla' etc; in Henri de Regnier, in his CohleS
de Monsieur d'Amerceur,' and ABOVE an IL
ViIlierss De TIse Adam
His Torture par TEsperance remlnos one u
Puts ct Ia Pendule,' and the Secret de Echd-
faud' rivals VaIdemar and Bedloe MoreoNe1'
it is to Poe that owe our taste for the scleh-
tIfc and subtle DEDUCTIONS Of secret ponce lilefS
ture His Arthur Dupin is the prototype VI Oil
the amateur detectives that we nave slhCe see4A-
The Doetrv of Poe is untranslatable into French
Consequently, it is rather by his poetic theorleS
that he has stamped a deep and lasting action
an our noetry Baudelaire and Rollinat were
inspired by Poe's poetic theories. but IT was
asneciaI1v MaIIarme chief Of the symboHsts'
who made Poe's ideas his own. such' lot IN
stance as the predomination of the music Oh
words horror of the commonplace and OF tne al
ready seen or said and his cult of art for arts
sake and the nervous brevity Of the poem etc
Edgar Allan Poe contributed nothing TO the
theatre but his influence is nevertheless
strongly felt on the stage. Did he not cream
of writing a play so terrifying that Ie" hlo-
rnents after the raising OF the curtain the spec
tators would feel impeled to rush from their
seats, uttering frantic cries OF horror? THIS
NAV that Poe did not construct have had the
ambition to write have made several EFFORTS
in this line and it is not for me to say whether
they have been successful. but ii Is certain that
a new dramatic formula is born, LIE Genre
Efrrayant' the terrific species, and OF this roe
is the sponsor.
"volurnes are needed to summarize all that
has been written in France about Poe, SO can
do better than terminate this brief notice by re-
producing the words which, in the Dialogues
des Morts,' NJ. Jules Lemaitre placed IN the
mouth of Poe: experienced more than any one
before me the terror of the unknown. OF the
night of mystery. OF the unexplainable- was
the poet OF hallucnations and Of vertigo. was
the poet of fear. I expressed the state OF con-
science that the author Of Hamlet himself only
presented two or three times.
1T is precisely because he discovered 40
main before him. unexplored. that Poe IKE
Shakespeare, like Moliere. Ike Dante does not
belong to a national literature only; his work
forms q mart Of the common patrimony OF hu-
manity. Andre LIE L<AiNLH'