The New York herald., 1922-07-09

the opportunity or the courage to do
in reality.
The Super-Lover.
The italian, for instance, believes
in marriage; so much so that he
shrinks at legalizing divorce. Mar
riage also is a matter of prudence.
of interest. an institution around
which he centers. and on which he
bases the principal activities of his
life. Marriage. accordingly, has little
if any place in Guido da verona's
novels; to which the tired husband
and the disillusioned wife may turn
from the struggle for existence and
social position to enjoy vicariously
the thrills OF absorbing passions that
fiout interest. prudence. respecta-
bility. How wonderful to love with
a love superior to law, superior to
considerations OF worldly success,
superior to the instinct of self
preservation (though never superior
to the fear of ridicule)i In this
sense Guido da Verona is playing
now the game that Georges Sand
played three generations before him.
The average Italian leads life of
sustained frugality and patient toll.
gradually amassing. through painful
sacrifice. some sort of a heritage for
his children. Guido da Verona. by
the same process of negation instinc-
tive or otherwise. creates characters
who are free from worldly care, and
who spend money by the barrelfull.
In a sense the rich and artistocratic
idler. his hero. usually is one whose
sole problem in life Is to adjust his
complicated spirit to the exigencies
of thirst for indulgence. is as
foreign to American ideals and ex-
perience as can be. But We are
familiar with the instinct which
makes him an enjoyable character to
Italian women. II is the same in
umn and the society scandal market
able among servant girls and the
laboring classes in general. How
much better We are than these rich
people. And how nice 1t is to have
money!" The fiattering OF a moral
and class prejudice. subtle
whetting of suppressed impulses to
sensuousness-such is the formula
OF the American Sunday supplement
and. with due reservations. OF the
Italian Guido da Verona
The Easy Money Motive.
And we may say much the same
of easy money" Winchell Smith.
who surely knows Broadway as few
know it. asserts that any successful
American play must have easy
money" in it somewhere. People the
world over want to get rich without
working for it. The clever specula-
ton on exchange. the willy stroke in
promoting. the chance tip" "strik-
ing oil' and so on, these are the
devices of our American virtuosos.
In Europe, where there are only ten
superfiuous dollars with a hundred
million people scrambling for them,
gambling is the one device for the
rapid exchange of values. What
Voftaire said of God one may also
say of Monte Carlo: if Casino did
not exist Europeans would invent
one. A world OF penny hoarders
must have some heaven: and that
heaven is a place where millions
come land go) in an instant. So
Guido da Verona gambles on.
The average Italian stays at home
and will not leave the walls of his
city unless he has to. Once in ten
years a trip to Venice TO the Exposi-
ton. a trip to Rome to see the
Pope (you do not have to move to
see the King: IL IRE viaggiatore"
comes to see you); otherwise the
Italian is motionless. But in the
novels. he travels. To-day your hero
is in Biarritz. tomorrow in London.
Budapest. Cairo. Hongkong, New
York-first class. and n pretty lady
Cor a handsome MANI in every train
and on every steamer. Such is the
prescription.
The Unhappy Ending.