New-York tribune., 1921-03-06

Garrett Published by The Macmillan
Company.
~ SYCHO-ANALYSIS had not been
~ elevated to the rank of an ex-
u perimental science during the
lifetime of f'yodor Dostoevsky.
Yet 1T is quite accurate to call him the
greatest of psycho-analytica novclists
with phenomenal clairvoyance, doubt
less stimulated by his own malady, he
pcnetrates the most obscure regions Of
subconsclous psychology. He knows
all the strange, mad ways in which
frustrated ambitions, suppressed de-
slres and perverted passions express
themselves. His works are all studies
in abnormal psychology, shot through
and illuminated by astonishing imagi-
native genius and a remarkable capac-
lty for depicting intense and vivid
dramatic situations.
Dostoevsky always shows peculiar
sympathy and understanding in deal
ing with souls that have been wounded
and bruised almost beyond recovery
by long years of oppression and humil-
latlon. Tatyana Ivanovna, in A Friend
of the Family, is a typical figure. She
is poor girl, who from childhood has
been compelled to endure the querulous
spite of the old women whom she has
served. She takes refuge In world Of
dreams and fancies, where she is rich,
beautiful, beloved. One part of her
dream comes true. She inherits g
large fortune. Thereupon she falls into
state of amorous ecstasy that closely
borders on insanity. Dostoevsky's de-
scription of this development in her
character is worth quoting as speci-
men of his keen psychological insight:
"Swooning with bliss, she scared
away beyond recall into her enchanted
world of impossible imaginations and
seductive fancies. Away with. all re-
Election, all doubt, all the checks of
real life, all its laws clear and inevita
Bile as twice two makes four. Thirty
five years and dreams of dazzling
beauty, the sad chill of autumn and the
luxuriance Of the infinite bliss of love
all blended in her without discord
Her dreams had once already been
realized in life; why should not all the
rest come true? Why should not he ap-
pear? Tatyana lvanovna did not rea-
n, but she had faith. But while wait
ing for him, the ideal, suitofs and
knights Of various orders and simple
gentlemen, officers and civilians, in
fantrymen and cavalrymen, grand no.
blemen and simply poets who had been
in Paris or had only been in Moscow,
with boards and without boards, with
impcrals and without imperials, Span
iards and not Spaniards (but Spaniards,
by preference), began appearing be-
fore her day and night in horrifying
numbers that awakened grave appre-
tensions in onlookers; she was but a
step from the madhouse. All these
lovely phantoms thronged about her in
q dazzling, infatuated procession. In
reality, in actual life, everything went
the same fantastic way; any one she
looked at was in love with her; any
one who passed by was a Spaniard; if
any one died it must be for love of her."
The hero of the story, Foma Fomitch.
IS an excellent example of tho slave
turning tyront when he gets a chance.
After passing through a long period of
servltudc to a rich, irascible and weak
minded old man, who forces him to
initiate animals for sport and alter
nately bullies and laughs at him, Foma
suddenly comes into position Of do
nestle mastery through the death Of
his patron. The widow Is infatuated
with him; and he is able to impose his
will upon a whole household through
the weak good nature Of the widows
son, who hunlbly obeys every capricious
command of the widow and her favorite.
The fantastic tyranny Of Foma Fo-
mitch affects the entire course of the
story. He forces the serfs to learn
French; he insists that every one call
him "cxcellency"; he rules his subjects
with rod of iron. Without wit or
cleverness or any attractive trait of
personality, by sheer obstinate conccit
and self-assurance, he maintains his
ascendancy until the day of his death