New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-07-24

FRENCH ESSAYS AND PRoF1LEs. pv
stuart Henry. Published by e. P Dut-
ton & Co. $3.50.
"HERE ere two methods of study
I ing and interpreting in resultant
prose men and women who are
creative factors in modern civilization.
The first is the analysis of the pro
found student Of mind and it's deter
mined results. manner of presenta
ton frequently arid in it's wastes Of
technical formula and psychology of
dissection. The second is the rather
informal but effective mode Of him who
gives us the equipments and visible
productions of genius in text always
readable and often chatty in it's easy
LONELINESS.
Stuart Henry's French Essays and
Profile falls into the ranks of the Sec
ond of these classes. We welcome it
as an interesting and authentic series
of word-pctures Of great Parisians who
have dominated the letters and the art
CT their city, and also thrown the an.
tenn@ of their influence out over, an
appreciative world. In the opening
section Of this book are seven ESSAYS
on "Leconte de Lisle," MADAME Marie
Mennessier-Nodier." sThe Great Era of
the French Ballet' and other topics.
They reveal an English prose lightened
by French sprightliness, combina
ton of sturdy syllable values and
sensitive fire that illumes and achieves
distinction. Yet we are not to lose
sight, In the unusual charm of the au-
thor's diction, Of the singular effective
ness of his style. He gets his men and
women across the barrier of page and
paragraph. They stand before US ac-
tual revelations.
Here is passage from Mr.. Henry's
essay on de Lisle: "Thus as Hugo,
IN his tender love and pity of human
lty, softens his pages with twilights,
with evenings, with night and its
starry armament and the more reclu
sive, gentle, God-inspiring aspects and
phases of nature, as the fit accompani
ments to the human joys and fears
which fill his verse, so Leconte de
Lisle, in his disdain Of humankind.
pours upon his poems the open, fierce,
relentless blaze of the tropical sun.
whose effect he rarely relieves and
makes tender by dusks and shadows
1t would be difficult to discover in anv
work on French poetry of the last CEN
fury a more concise, yet searching,
criticism Of the moods of Hugo and de
Llsle as expressed in their writings.
The second section of this book, that
on "Profiles," contains seventeen brief
studies of evident Parisians, beginning
with Jules Claretie and ending with
Vlctorlen Sardou. They are far more
than mere pencilings in outline. Thew
are rich in swiftly drawn sketches Of
curious evidences of personal peculiari-
ties, the crotchets and the facinations
OF men and women of unsual mental
powers. The profile" on Dumas the
Elder and those on Pierre Lott and
Frederic Mistral constitute for us the
outstanding trio of the entire group
In the appreciation of Dumas we find
fling at critics who repeat the old
yarn about the great story -teller's in
trusting to others, to corps of amanu-
enses, the writing of many Of his
novels. 1t reads as follows: "For
those who borrow trouble in the
thought that Dumas did not write his
own stories, or at least all of them or
all parts of them, and that perhaps he
had not the genius to conceive and
write them and was accordingly lit
erary montebank of farcical propor-
tons, it is we'll to remember that
Dumas is acknowledged to have written
his own plays. He did not turn them
over to miscellaneous and unknown
gifted persons who were considerate
enough not to pen anything worth
while after he died or before he was
born.'