New-York tribune., 1909-05-09

THE WELL OF SAINT CLARE Ia s;,- BY ,AIatol Anatole
France Translation Trans by Alfred AIlins99- u SG9
John Lane Company.
THAT'S BY Anatole France A Translation by
Robert B. Douglas Edited by Frederic Chap
man SyO, PIP "a John Lane Company
The promises made by the John Lane Com
many when this edition Of Anatole France was
announced are being well fulfilled The differ
,.nt volumes are appearing with exemplary ra-
1,idity and IT viii not be long before the set is
conplete. This enterprise commands warm ap-
rreciaticn We may not accept the valuation
r}aced upon this writer by his more feryid ad
Ynfrers but we would have to be unsympa-
tbetic indeed to find no entertainment in his
rages He has ever had winning. insinuating
Kay with him There is a SAVIOR about his
work. a SAVIOR of letters. He makes good COM
ranv The pleasant thing about reading him
Is the sense that you Immediately develop OF be
ing in contact with a man Of full mind. His
bookishness has by itself, a certain tonic infiu-
ence If there is a somewhat acrid and even
suhtly destructive streak in his Epicureanism
If Is after all harmless enough for the reader
who knows how 10 make the proper deductions,
and Anatole France If he falls into the hands
Of irnmaturity, is not likely to stay there long
He makes his own readers and keeps them, an
audience which may not be multitudinous but
nevertheless 1aIIy ne - OnS VI Ni0
chosen authors of those TO whom the study Of
humanity is absorbing in proportion as it may
lie saturated In the atmosphere of the library.
This reflection may seem to define rather
sharply the extent Of an authors range, but 1t
carries. of course no reproach- In his little
world AnatoIe France moves about with plenty
Of authentic vitality, and sometimes with an
effectiveness worthy of man Of broader OUT
look When Lafcadio Hearn made the transla-
ton Of ''The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard,
which has judiciously been acquired for the
present edition. he wrote introduction to the
book which contains this saying: In the art
Of Anatole France there is no sensuousness: his
study is altogether of the nobler emotions"
Read with reference 10 more than one of his
volumes, this observation could not but provoke
a smile It is entirely justified, however, in the
case of THE Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard-"
There is true kindliness, there is genuine sweet
ness, in that charming book Nowhere else IN
his writings does the author so clearly show
that he has heart as well as a brain De
cidedly he was on the side Of the angels when
he put forth this bit of revery and feeling. II
makes a white mark in the long list Of his
works
He wrote it, one surmises, because he could
not help himself It is an essentially sponta-
neous performance for all that it is like every
man of letters rather than of a born rOmanccr.
doubtless he composed ''Thais' with equal sin
cerity, but, the other hand. il is here the
artist rather than the lover Of mankind who is
in complete control Again he envelOps his mo-
- tive in atmosphere, but this is a somewhat
Fictitious affair The characters of Paphnutius
and That's are clearly and picturesquely drawn,
Yet you do not take them into your memory as
lasting creatures of flesh and blood. They are
just the necessary figures in drama written
from the outside by a connoisseur OF antique
civilization. His pictorial effects admirable.
HIS dialogue is very clever. But his emotion
scarcely rings true. In the short stories assem-
bled under the title Of 1.-The Well Of St Clare
and held together by threads OF old Italian SEN
timent and humor, NJ. France Is the more con-
Hincing because he is the more profoundly his
natural self.
The appeal Of the Renaissance moves him to
quick response. He loves its conplexity, It's
intertwining currents of religious ardor and
mundane practicality He recites his legend OF
san Satire" with gusto for the pagan material
in which he has to deal, with sensiuVeness TO
the vein OF mysticism running through the
theme and with keenest delight Of all, perhaps,
in the quaint romanticism Of a monkish tale
Faith and superstition, the high minded philoso-
r.ler and the boisterous practical joker, the ad-
ventures of the soul and those of the body
whatever goes to make up the eager life of an
earlier day. he handles with the same friendly