New-York tribune., 1919-10-04
The Strongest
Clemenceau the Radical
Revived in His Novel

'l'E " STRONGEST By Premier Georges
!ehenceau Published by Doub|edav
Page & Co.
One searches "The Strongest" with
an eagerness that is not for diversion
with a curiosity that is not literary.
What will it yield up Of sclf-revelation
OF the intense and fascinating nor
sonalty of It's author, Premier Georges
Clemenceau? Here in the freer and
more vibrant expression of the novel
there may be something more Of self
cxpllcatlon than resides in public docu-
mcnis and speeches. Though it was
written more than twenty years ago.
IT may serve as a light by which to
Judge a large and provocative figure
of our time
Where would Clcmenceau stand now
IN the conflict of social forces that he
outlines 50 boldly in "Le Plus Forte
linen there was no doubt. He COM
puted the problem of power, the weight
OF the social forces, with sardonic
and bitter indignation for the dis
1t presented. The figures arc still un-
altered; the social formation is still
the same; but the war has somewhat
shifted Clcmenceau to less critical
position.
Through the medium of a story in
which two men war for power over
young girl. Clemenceau gives his
Judgment of the social order. Behind
Harle, the embodiment of physical
power, are all the institutions by
which society has bulwarked the few
who have against the many who have
not Financier, priest, politician,
maker of fashion, journalist and
philanthropist, these secure to Harle
ms power and make up the world Of
the strongest. Behind Puvmaufray.
the Philosopher, are Dcschars, the
young ldeallst, and the vague, menacing
forms Of workers. Between them
stands the girl Claudia the child of
love affair between Harles dead wife
and Puymanufray, who Harlc believed
to be his own. He destines her for a
brilliant marriage that shall secure
the dynastlc succession of his wealth
Vague impulses toward nobility, the
teachings of Puymanufray, urge her to
a revolt; but the briliance of a life
OF power, the barrenncss Of the other
part, torces her to the side Of those
who nave. When. in a desperate effort
to save the girl from the brutal stand
ards of Harle. Puymaufray reveals to
Harle that he is not her father, the
tinancier has the final victory and
proves himself the strongest As
Puymaufray has robbed him of his
wife he has by his wealth robbed him
of his child.
The novel is the work of man to
whom the iictional form of writing is
not native and who has little patience
with its subtletes. The enigma of
human character does not absorb him.
tie draws his figures in broad, crude
strokes, and having once sketched
them in he does not return to shade
them or to correct the perspective.
Harle, the heavy man of power; Puy-
maufray, the philosopher, and the girl
between them, are conventional sym
bos. The idealism that the PHILOSOPHER
and conventional one-an unattractive
puritanism and stodgy preachness
that one likes the girl for refusing
But if Clemenceau falls short in warm
imagination about people, there are
brilliant flashes of intellectual com
prehension. His anti-clercal fury is
cold and deadly" Because he lacked
ouliNlelt preparation 10 understand 1t,
Rome did not affect him. What he
knew of antiquity seemed out of place
among those old yellow stones whose
meaning and history escaped him. He
understood that something colossal
had existed there, an enormously de-
veloped will-to-rule to which the
Church was the natural heir Re-
l.ton would undoubtedly have ap-
peared nobler to him if he had not
seen the Vatican so close. All the
gods have need of distance"
1t Is not great novel, not even a
good one in its own right. In it's place
as an expression of an unusually in
terosting figure it has an eloquence of
It's own. 1t expresses Clemenceau the
radical, the stanch republican, the
anti-clerical, the hard fighter whom
the curious vicissitudes of fate have
allied with The Strongest. r. D.