New-York tribune., 1919-01-19
Hardly a
Cheerful Author

"The Cabin" is a work of intense power
and realism, the epigraph of which might
we'll be the tragic sentences from its last
chapter: "Bread At what a cost it is earned.
And how evil it makes mani" 1t has all
the strength that we have become habitu-
ated-and uni ustly-to associate solely with
the Russian novel, without the whitening
morbidity that often characterizes the
Slav product Yet it is not at all a cheer
full book; Blasco Ibanez, as whole, is
hardly cheerful author He is unAinching
before the facts upon which he focuses his
attention; he is here concerned with "man's
inhumanity to man." whether it be the inhu-
manity of the heartless land owner who
presses his poor tenant to the. point where
the oppressed is ready to kill, or the inhu-
manity of the rabbe toward the individual
who is bent upon rising above it. The sun
that shines upon the plains of Valencia
seems here to serve only to heighten the
tragedy by the mocking contrast of its
glowing rays. The author may well have
had in mind Proudhons Property is theft"
yet he fays the people as we'll as the prop
erted classes.
Following "The Cabin" came "S6nnica la
Cortesana" O90D. The novel is fully worth
while, not only for its merits as a readable
account Of ancient times, but because it re
veals characteristic traits of the author and
foreshadows later works The titular fig
ure, S0nnica, is one of the few women who
IN strength of purpose and frmness Of Will,
challenge comparison with the long line Of
lbanez's energetic, dominating masculine
figures. The tale of the siege of Saguntum
By Hannibal is told with wealth Of power
which shows that long before the author
was to win fame as a painter of modern
warfare he had successfully recalled to life
the warfare of oden times Whether the
gifted Spaniard is concerned with the orgies
that take place under the inspiration of hi
courtesan heroine, or with the cruel details
OF the siege itself, he produces the uncanny
effect OF lifting you out Of your seat and
carrying you right into the scene His
Sonnica may be coluptuous crcature but
at the end, rather than see her adopted CITY
yield to the besieger, she walks into the
flaming pyre together with the rest of the
citizens, forming huge burning sacrifice
to the spirit Of patriotism Thus. in a
sense, Saguntuln itself is the hero of the
tale; the no,elist has here given US a stern
uiiy lc4ClHg portrayal OF spiritual victory
over material defeat. The heroes of Sa-
Guntum-down to the effeminate, rich young
men and the weakling voluptuares become
glorifed through their fiery apotheosis
In way "Sonnica la Cortosana' fore
shadows LA Maja Desnuda,' for what has
been called Ibanez's "cult of the nude" is
here not little in evidence Yet to brand
the novel as Immoral" on this basis would
be quite fatuous; not all is immoral that is
nude, nor is all moral that is dressed Son
MICA, as we have seen, is not so degenerate
but that she prefers death to defeat even
though she is not native and might easily
have escaped -hc city Of her adoption. And.
before the days Of 1911 to 1918, did not
somebody assure US that France was a de-
generate nation because OF her degenerate
literature?