New-York tribune., 1911-01-15

NJ Doumic expresses belief that she
will sooner or later be found to belong
10 that class Of authors who are destined
TO have revival after a more or less
protracted period of posthumous neglect,
in which case his book VIII undoubtedly
he found to be the best and most profit
able preparation for a rereading Of her
novels and indispensable as an intro
duction to first reading of them by a
younger generation. Moreover so much
Of speculation and theory and gossip
has been woven into the fabric of her
life and work that this new study Of
both is more than welcome as recti-
fiCation. even i'm case the promised re-
vival is not forthcoming, or does not
reach beyond the limits of her native
country. VI. Doumic has also discov-
cred some new documentary evidence in
the form Of some letters from Nine. Du-
devant throwing additional light-but
only very litte--on the insignificant
Sandeau episode. And, finally, his book
is a model Of it's kind, worth studying
for its own sake and for the literary
plea sure II gives.
NJ Doumic traces throughout the in
fuence of George Sands life upon her
works. without ever attempting to force
the note or to find relations where they
do not exist. on the other hand he in
geniously points out where and how the
stories she planned and thought over
and wrote. i'm their turn. shaped her
life 1t is refreshing, after much ro-
mantle nonsense 10 read common sense
such as this in the case Of Alfred de
Musset:
1t is the custom 10 pity these two un-
fortunstes. who suffered so much. At the
risk Of being taken for very heartless
man, | must own that do not pity them
much They wished for this suffering, they
wanted to experience the Incompatible SEN
sations OF it, and they got enjoyment and
profit from it, And so here they both
are. We might call them Leila and stenio,
but Leila" was written before the Venice
81. but rather the presentlment. This is
worthy of notice. but not at all surprising.
Literature sometimes initiates reality; put
. how much more often reality is modelled
on literature!
OF course one cannot undertake
study Of George Sand without entering
into a consideration Of her ancestry,
beginning with Maurice de SAKE. be-
cause she presents an exceptional case
Of hereditary influences, the side of the
common people from which she descend
ed on the maternal side finally prevail
ing in her works. Step by step NJ
Doumic traces the further influences of
life and environment not only in her
thought and emotional tendencies but
also In the beauty OF her descriptions Of
places, her pictures Of the French peas
antry. The first phase Of her life is thus
reflected In the feminism Of her early
novels, which was but an extension of
the romantic movement OF the period to
woman. Indiana" was the anccstress
of the misunderstood woman"
story Of her own unhappy marriage, Of
an individual case, IL became social
document. Indiana does not find fault
with Colonel Delmare for being the hus-
band that he is. but simply for being
the husband. 1t was in Jacques" that
George Sand produced her theories on
marriage more fully. After. analyzing
this story NJ. Doumic adds:
What want 10 show Is that i'm these
first novels by George Sand we have about
the whole OF the feminist programme OF
to-day Everything is there. the right TO
happiness the pecessity Of reforming
marriage our feminists of to-day
French English or Norwegian. and theO-
ieticians like Ellen Key. all these rebels
have invented nothing. They have done
nothing but take up once more the the
cries of the great feminist of 1892. and eX-
pose them with less lyricism but more
CNniCism.
When. at later period. George Hand
wrote "Mauprat" she sincerely believed
that il was a novel with purpose the
very opposite Of that OF Indiana" and
Jacques" II was nothing Of the kind,
observes NJ. Doumic: this was simply one
of those explanations arranged after
ward. peculiar TO some authors. In
"Mauprat" George Sand simply gave the
reins TO her Imagination without thought
OF sociological preoccupations.
space forbids 70 follow this acutely
revelatory biographer and critic into his
authors novels of artistic life the hu-
manitarian dreams Of her social fiction.
the qualities of her closing pastoral
neriod Of literary productiveness or
into his analysis of the influence Of her
plavs upon the thedtrc Of the younger
Dumas who collaborated with her on
lie MARQUIS de Wiener He pays a
worthy tribute to the art of growing old