New-York tribune., 1919-07-12
A Barley Book
Novel From France
Written on a Piano"

THE STORY WITHOUT A NAME. From
The French of Barley d'Aureviay d With
Lotus Library Brentanos.
"Barbey," says Mr.. Saltus in his
spledid introduction, wrote on a
piano." And, we imagine, with
deaths head for an inkwell.
One advances to an Interpretation
of his dirge with some misgivings.
To go back to the tale after having
again seen the sun, felt life and
laughed with children, is revolving
The mire of these French romanticists
clings, and, like an evil ointment, in
duces one through fascination to apply
more. Balzac, Gautier, Merimee, all
beckon with their sinister charm
@ntice with their gloom in such devil
ishly artistic settings. Who has yet
cut the tentacles of "Peau de G. la-
grim" "La Morte Amoureuse," "Ma-
teo Falcome 2" And now comes Bar
bey in English.
A travelling priest, tarrying at the
home of Nine. de Ferjol and her daugh-
ter Lasthenie, the while he conducts
lenten services at the parish church,
violates the hospitality of his hostess
by an assault on her daughter. The
denouement, though sudden, is un-
folded slowly, purposely, hat all the
attendant horror and degradation may
seep through the minds of his charac-
ters (and, more deviltry, his readers,
too), resulting in insanity and death.
Barley was a poseur Affecting the
air of a boulevardier, he was really
bourgeois and his early life humdrum
and ordinary. The development of an
imaginative mind is slow. Though en-
hanced and expanded by environment
and association, the talent is funGa-
mentally hereditary; never acquired.
Possessing this remarkable gift in
quite the capacity Of the masters men,
toned above, one, in marvelling, finds
his interest during contemplative> mo-
ments, equally divided between the
author and his story. Bourget found
him "a dreamer with an exquisite sense
Of vision" but his appeal to us is
through an imaginative realism
wrought net technically nawless per-
haps, (indeed, style often intricate,
jerly and obscure), but compelling and
sincere in spite of perceptve imper-
fections. And descriptive contnu-
ity that is perfect; little deviation
= and no disturbing asdes to fret the
' interest and destroy the sequence.
His four characters in "lhe Story
Without a Name" arc secure in their
choose. Though but q paragraph or
two belongs actually to Father Ricuf.
his sinister influence so suDtly pervades
the narrative that the spell is cast over
you as we'll as Nine dc FerJo.. We
were minded to suggest Lasthenio, too,
but she, so dazed, so mentally inani-
mate, verging even then on idiocy, was
receptive only to maternal consultations
thss We're never offered, never forth
coming.
He mas not created sympathetic
character in Lasthenie. You may cry
FOR her, feel Tor her, but the emotion
Is 100 tiraed ~. pity, TOO lmpregnated
with rcmorse to be respectful. This,
we think, is largely due to q LACK of
assertiveness. The girls crosss was
heavy but not once did she Try. to
stand with it. Wronge;!. l.umiliated,
tortured as she was, only insanity could
have induced her passivity, her acqui-
escence to situation of which she, in
credibly,. knew nothing. Insanity is
limited at nd, of course, ensues Bar.
bey's conception, while it materially
substantiates the characterization he
has chosen to build up, decreases pro-
alIy tho !,
that is SO desirable if not essential. An
occasional protest, just little contra
diction, would have accomplished this
without, too, lessening artstcally in
va Ne portrait already remarkably
dnNWn.
Mne. de Ferjo. while demanding
more attention. Is accomplished with less
effort. The relentless Janaenist with
stands to the end A martyr to her own
a~.t-ay not oAce does she relax and
only once does she try. Suffering for
(and because OF. one is tempted to say)
religious convictions in which theAe was
no solaoA for her she goes out quite
as firmly as she came. Here, too, is
tragedy, quite as awful if not as real
istlc
These are impressions rather than
criticisms. Barley, we feel, is dam
gerous ground Little seems to be
known of him and we could safely hide
behind his security; but his appeal is
compelling and his art great-a chal-
lcnse to more scholarly criticism more
studous analysis.
A tribute to Mr.. Saltus brilliant in
PRODUCTION is acknowledged. He ac-
composites in twenty pages more than
volume of biography in less gifted
hands. Prefaces as rule are de trop
but Mr. 'Satus wieds too clever pen
to be denied. rare thing-a cover to
cover book. d. L. GILBERT
John Redmond and Home Rule
THE LIFE OF JOHN REDMOND Rv
ARE y, Wells 2s2 pages Published
by the George IL Doran Company. New