The New York herald., 1921-04-03

written which never find the
proper readers. We owe more
to the publisher than we realize.
An iceberg does no particular good
floating around near the North Pole.
but II II could be transported TO the
East Side of New York on sweltering
summers day, II would add 10 the
comfort of many thousands. Anatole
France is prophet, full Of honor in
his own country, but he has a peculiar
| message 10 the Anglo Saxon world
| for his writings have qualities which
at present are not to be found in our
| literature.
| One of the recent issues of the Bod
leian is dedicated to Anatole France.
| II halls him as the worlds greatest
living writer, and although this may
seem an exaggerated tribute. the con-
tents certainly do much to justify the
phrase. Authors as diverse as
Lafcadio Hearn and William j. Locke
call him their master.
Edward Garnett, writing on Ana
tole France in English" lays stress
upon the need for his attitude at the
present day when the Anglo Saxon
is forgetting that life should not be
taken too seriously. He calls the
English version of France "the most
important bestowed upon us since Toll
stoy's volumes were translated.
In speaking of the humor of Anatole
| France, w. Courtney draws very
| fine parallel between his writings and
those of Sterne. THE English writer
whom M. France most resembles is,
4 think. Laurence Sterne. He has
much the same wistful tenderness,
combined with the freest handling OF
all subjects. sacred and profane. I'm
agine a Sterne OF the later nineteenth
century who regards all existence as
a tragi-comedy, who dgnifies all sub
4 sects by his culture. who raises insig-
\ nihcant incidents TO the level of some-
4 thing like tragedy by his style-and
\ you get an inlxling of the spirit which
7 animates all the work of Anatole
\ France"
\ A great critic once said. "Thackeray
was no cynic. He loved fools" Ana
y tole France has a somewhat different
\ attitude and yet he is fully as tolerant.
Il Farrell Symms says of him. IF he is
divinely tolerant of ordinary human
\ weakness and folly. no one at the
same time has so little sympathy with
\ fools, still less with rogues His most
\ genial manner is impregnated with
satire Irony, indeed, is with him al
most a natural mode OF expression.
But when he comes upon folly that is
criminal or the purposeful deceit OF
| fypocrites and impostors. as In the
| Dreyfus episode. then the fall falls
with remorseless force. the darts of
his unapproachable irony fly so thick
and fast as TO leave his luckless vic
| tim nowf ere TO hide his head.
Tn the whole range of NJ. Frances
satire IL would be mistake. however.
to imagine that there is any touch OF
personal animus. As one critic said.
he is as impartial in his attacks as
O mosquito. The satire or Swift Us fun
OF bitterness-nearly every shaft Is
tipped with venom; the satire of Pope
,s too often the mere qualification Of n
personal grudge. so that YOU feel his
victim squirm: but the satire of Ana
tole France Is candid and free. and has
It's origin in the latent irony OF llfe."
Although the humor of France
makes such a deep impression Its
roots go deeper than that, for II
springs from the fact that this great
writer is profoundly human as well as
erudite and that he has become a
unique blending OF the artist and the
philosopher. This is a point which
William ]. Locke well analyses:
TN most men similarly endowed
there has boon a conflict between the
twin souls which has generally ended
in the strangling OF the artist, but In
che case Of Anatole France they have
worked together in bewildering har-
mony. The philosopher has been mild,
the artist unresentful. In amity there
fore they have proclaimed their faith
and their unfaith, their aspirations