New-York tribune., 1910-01-29
SATIRE.
II Man of Wit Upon His
CountrymeR.

n translation by n. w EVANS. oNO, pp
xx, 345. The John Lane Company.
TOURNEBROCHE. And Childlife in
Town and Country. BY Anatole France.
A translation by A. f. Evans. syo. pp
viii, 80. The John Lane Company.
A new book by Anatole France is an
insidious thing There is no one like
him. no one who so piques curiosity and
iG so beguiling. The reader who has
once yielded to his spell approaches his
latest volume in mood OF irresponsible
enjoyment. But reflection is nearly al
ways apt to stimulate critical searching.
and if this is so when one of the familiar
yellow covered books, fresh from the
press. is concerned. one is even reader
to correct a. first impression in such cir
cumstances as those which bring us the
present translations. Perhaps 1t is just
the passage from French into English
that makes the difference. There is al
ways something cold blooded about the
mere idea of a translation, and while
the craftsmen engaged upon this series
that Mr. Frederic Chapman is editing do
their work very well, they have, to be
sure. an original whose charm might
eIude a consummate artist using an
other tongue. Yet in rereadng Pen
guin Island" we are not sure that the
maker of the English version has much,
IL anything, to do with the murmurs of
disappointment constantly provoked. Is
1t not rather that this voluminous satire.
witty as it is. is little too long, not
always as witty as 1t might be, and
even, at times. wearisomely shallow?
The rapier of the satirist is most eff
fective when his arm is nerved by
righteous scorn, or at least by hot
emotion. His sincerity must go deep
He must care, intensely, for the job in
hand Anatole France is sincere-but
with a difference. Indubitably he cares,
in a measure. but through the fabric of
Penguin Island you discern every
now and then the movement of a. spirit
fastidious rather than passionate. the
spirit of a dilletante rather than that
OF a prophet. He wrote this book as
one out of humor with his contempo-
raries, inpatient of bourgeois dulness
and disgusted with the materialism and
political mediocrity of his time. He put
sis, and into the bargain. some of his
romanticism. some of that quality which
has always gone to his treatment of
things mystical and legendary. The
opening chapters portray the holy Mael
and his penguins with q demure wit and
skilful assumption of naTvete which
have their effect in the English version,
and, in the French, gained from the
authors incompatible style, an alto
gether compelling impetus. But as he
proceeds he gets. in the first place, con-
siderably out of his depth. discussing the
foibles of his countrymen with some in
sight but with none of that high serious
ness which Is needed to give his judg-
ments weight, and secondly, his anina-
ton flags, the characteristic Anatolian
lightness and grace give way to the
tedious laborings of a quite uninspired
pamphleteer. No doubt this may seem
heretical TO the readers who are sealed
of his tribe and have, indeed, accepted
Penguin Island" as the most esoteric
pronouncement OF the Master" the one
book embodying the very essence of his
genius. We wonder If, hand on heart
and remembering M. Bergeret Paris
or La Rotissere de la RENE Pedauoue"
they could go on asserting an unqualified
satisfaction in "L'Isle des Pingouins."
The. other volume, which appears at
this time in the complete edition. in Eng
lish. of the works Of Anatole France, is
decidedly better calculated to extend his
repute among American readers. THE
Merrie Tales OF Jacques Tournebroche'
is a collection of short compositions, en-
riched with all the coIors which his i'm
agination can bring back from the Mid
die Ages or the Renaissance, a collec-.
ton of just such cynical but very hu-
man episodes as would have been be-
loved of Boccaccio or Rabelais The vol
ume contains, too, in the delicate mini
atures Of Child Life in Town and Coun-
try" some of the most exquisite pas
sages this delightful artist has ever put
to his credit. In curious contrast to the
grossness which crops out in some of
the "Merrie Tales Is the spirituele
charm peryading the stories of children,
stories as pure and fragrant as so many
blossoms brought straight from natures
garden. In neither half of this volume is
the work of the author to be studied at
its fullest and richest. but at least in
both divisions he gives us, in one way or
another, the SAVIOR Of his true self.