The sun., 1916-10-02

writer had predicted his fame az ma
turing by the year 1880, and taking
him at his word Paul Bourget wrote
the essay on Beyle-to give Stendhal
his true name-in the volumes de-
voted to psychological analysis Of GER
tain poets and prose masters. But
Sainte-Beuve and Tame had antici-
pated Bourset: indeed. Il was the
study OF stendhal which appeared in
Sainte-Beuve's "Causeries du Lundi"
Of January 2 and ., 1854. that deter
mined the place Of the author Of D
rAmour" In French letters. Stendhal
died in 1912. but not before he had Z
~perienced the qualification Of hearing
from Balzac that he VA a profound
psychologist. He was. Not even thai
prober Of the human soul Balzac him
self was a profounder psychologist.
Yet the general public has taken
"Red and Black or THE Chartreuse Of
Parma" to its heart. As for the dis
QUESTION on Love. that IL compara-
lively unknown. though highly es-
teemed by connoisseurs Of the cynical,
sensual and curious. And now, at last,
it has been Englished. Its aphorisms
were in part translated years ago.)
The translators Of DE rAmour" are
Philip Sidney woolf and Cecil X. Sid
ney woolf, NJ. 4. They have also fur
nished an Introduction. some notes
and. best Of all. the three prefaces by
Stendhal to hiS Ill fated volume, Of
which between 1922 and 1888 only sew
enteen copies were sold.
The book is %"scrappy." evidently a
collection OF hastily written notes,
jotted down at wide intervals and with
out continuity or sequence. But they
are Of interest no alone a. throwing
light upon the complex character of
Stendhai but also because OF their in
iuence upon his successors. Nietzsche.
a far more brilliant writer. benefited
by these aphorisms. Before him Stend-
hal had e~nunciated the idea Of the
superman, the elect soul. one Of the
happy few" Of intellectual and artis-
tic tastes. Before George Sand and
her fluctuations on woman's wrongs
we ind Stendhal urging the higher
W sio iNStttsS oc1, ak ulnk
that II her mind is to be compressed
by conventional formulas little may
DO expected Of her mental or
physical development; Just as the
feet OF tho Chinese woman prevent
her from freely walking. II Is odd. by
the way. how this comparison, the feet
OF the Chinese female and the brain OF
the Caucasian female. survives in
polemical literature. Voitaire en-
ployed It and before him II was used
and no doubt II will be a century
hence: for Chinese feet and European
brains will always be the same. In
the analytical novel Stendhal Is the
prototype Of his followers: Tolstoy,
George Meredith. Henry James and
Paul Bourget. Tolstoy makes his ac-
Acknowledgement TO Stendhal in tho
matter Of battle pictures. In that
vast prose epic War and Peace the
description Of the Austerlitz defeat a.
seen through the eyes of young Nicho-
las Rostow IL OF the precise pattern
woven by Stendhal In his portrayal Of
Waterloo and the wanderings around
h edge Of that mighty conflict by his
hero. Fabrice del Dongo.
Whatever the finer shades OF sen.i-
bility In the essay on love. its base
Is purely sensual. Stendhal was a ma
terialist OF the eighteenth century type
and h father Of the bizarre Witt.
cism: BE virtuous and he bilious. His
pet notion was that n man should not
he in a woman's company longer than
1--WE minutes without making love:
granting, Of course that the woman
Ia pretty and pleasing. Stendhal had
imbibed this idea when a soldier in
the Napoleonic campaign: IL was nus.
sar tactics OF the First Empire. At
tack. attack. attack" he advises. His
Love" practically sets forth this the
DRY. but like many theoreticians, he
was timid in action. lie was a sem
timentalist. he the pretended cynic and
hlase man Of the world. Merimee. his
closest friend, acknowledged that
much OF ~StendhaI's impassiblity was
pure pose. Nevertheless, with the ex-
ceptions OF Goethe and Byron. no
writer Of eminence In the early a
Of the nineteenth century enjoyed such
n sentimental education MS Stendhal.
who. ugly a q he was. slew his hum
dreds. These ladies' after
Hau pdSseu on 10 freSn con-
quests. a fact that he with his yitri.
Ollie sincerity did not fail to note. Yet
this same gallant was OF the few
among his contemporaries to declare
for the Acknowledgement. spiritual and
physical, of woman. He was almost
the first male feminist. In reality, his
theory Of love resembles that OF the
writer who said: Love IL brief and
simple. like a pressure OF the hand
between sympathetic persons, or a gay
dinner between two friends of which
a pleasant memory remains, II not
also a gentle gratitude toward the
companion
Stendhal's study Of the love passion
is marred ny the attempt to imprison
a sentiment behind the bars of a
mathematical formula. He had In.
herited from his studies OF Condillac,
Helvetius. Tracy. Chamfort. the need
OF a rigid schematology, a geometrical
demonstration. The word logic" was
always on the tip OF his tongue, and
probably he would nave come to blows
with Professor Jowett because OF his
dictum: Logic is neither an art nor
a science. hut a dodge" Love for
Stendhal was without n spiritual hori-
ION. 1t vas entirely a matter Of the
senses. The psyche counted for little.
manners for much. Both by tradition
and temperament he IL a sentimen tal
epicurean, and he is the artistic de-
sccndant OF BENJAMIN Constants hero.