New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-01-06

VI. DIES LOURDINES. Historic dun Cen
tlhomme Campagnard Par AlPhonse
de Chateaubriant. l2mo, PIP. ZS9 Parls:
Bernard Grasset
The awarding of an academic Prize
does not necessarily mean the discovery
of a work of genius. Rather is II
professional recognition of talent and 81
technical merit. M. des Lourdines'
possesses both these qualities in abun-
dant measure. It's author is delicateiy'
intimately responsive to the moods Of
nature and Of man, his style reflects
them with admirable fidelity, the "riSnt
word" has its true value in his eyes, and,
last but not least, he Is OF the present
generation Of French writer's Of fiction,
Of the school that has given us, for m
stance, La Terre Qui Meurt.' He is
not an innovatOr, but one does not wish
him TO be one so long as he can give
us such sensitive pictures Of life and T.
significance of its settings as this one.
Nor does he offer us novelty Of pot
or situation-only still another version
of the parable of the Prodigal Son. set in
an environment of great significance 10
his French readers. yet retaining rs
universal human meaning. 1t is a pct
ure Of the transition from the old 10
the new. Of the uprOoting by the lure of
Paris, and of the social ruin Of still an
other ancient provincial house, close to
the soil through many generations. The
background is the former province OF
Potion, the scene. the chateau OF the
Lourdines. The period Is 1910, which.
i'm that remote part of the country.
means the customs still Of the old
regime. though not its laws NJ. des
Lourdincs is still 'notre maitre' to the
peasantry. The revolution has passed
them by, leaving its benefits without
changing social traditions much, the
Napoleonic period is no less remote-its
net result two military roads cut throush
the forest The soil has not changed,
and these are her true children, closer
to her than to historic upheavals and
changes of government. NJ. des 10 IT.
dimes is her child as truly as the lowlicst
Of the peasants on his domains. He is
more farmer than untitled noble.
The authors economy Of resources IS
admirable throughout, whether II be In
his pictures Of woodland and field and
their produce and wild life, In his
SIX .tChes of the natives, or In his dc
scriptions of the daily life Of NJ. and
Nine. des Lourdines, and his analysis Of
their character and temperament. He Is
silent, difident, at his ease only with
Nature, whose voices speak to him. She
"a Of the city-of Poitiers-a magistrates
daughter. capable and energetic not
withstanding her unWieldy bulk and
failing health. Between them lies the
uneasy thought Of their son and only
child. spoiled from infancy, now in
Paris leading the life OF the man of
fashion of Louis Philippe's day, a prod-
gal partly through their own fault.
Theirs is a placid existence, unevent
full, unprogressive, a life from day to
day, until the unexpected catastrophe
comes. Their son has ruined them
| The ancestral fields and farms must
be sold; nothing VIII remain 10 thelH
but the old chateau and its imme-
date dependency, and an income of a
few thousand francs. The disaster kills
Nine. des Lourdines after period of
silent suspense, spent In watching the
change that has come over her husband,
manfully struggling, in his simple, UNI
worldly incapacity to bear the burden
alone
The INSTALLATION, the success in carry
ing the significance OF IT all to the reader
is sterling art, but the best pages are
devoted to the spiritual return Of the son
to the father, after his return in the
body. and after the interment OF his
mother. Here the author justihes the
choice Of his book for the honor bestowed
upon il. And throughout, with all its
wider human appeal, the story is French
to the core, true to the country's endur-
ing, fertile soil, true TO the children 1t
has bred in body and character. A book
worth reading.
THE NEWLY RICH ONCE MORE