The New York herald., 1922-08-13

M. one thing that no one else
has ever done. His "Ba-
touala" presents the savage human
animal just as he is; just as he mast
De. one feels after reading the book.
We have here no decorated version
OF the noble black man or OF the
heroic. "unspoiled' primitive crea-
ture. idealized or travestied after the
manner of a chateaubriand. Ber-
hardin de st. Pierre or our own
Cooper. Neither is there ANYTHING
9f the Kiplingesque. sophisticatedly
sympathetic Interpretation of the
native. 1t is not coldIy scientific.
aetached. impersonal study of him as
= specimen for an ethnologist's cab
met. And. finally, it is not a negro.s
own Interpretation Of himself. or of
pis ancestors from definitely negro
point Of view. NJ. Maran is. as he
precisely claims to be-, simply the
seeing artist who is drawing a pic
lure OF what he sees just as he
sees IT. His attitude, he tells us. ia
that Of one seeking utter obiectivitv
ano therein he is almost miraculously
successful. As work Of literary art
u Is. In this respect, a masterpiece.
Batouala himself. his nine wives. the
tusty youth Bissibingui. the drunken
oid father and all the minor figures
stand out with a clarity and detach-
ment of outline like that or a group
of bronze statues. They are all
ngures in the round" with no con-
ceaied parts. And they are not at
al posed We see them in perfectly
natural. unconscious attitudes-in
Short, Just as they must be. in stark
reality, in the very nature OF things.
But 10 Maran. the consummate
artist. there is added Maran the
bitter controversialist. the critic.
propagandist. champion Of his race.
spokesman for the educated. intel
lectual negro-sociaI philosopher.
and. possibly. militant leader. This
Maran appears in the preface to the
story. or sketch. This preface and
the tale Of "Batouala" itself are as
wide apart as the poles. 1t Is a
singular juxtaposition. NJ. Maran l.
obviously so intelligent that IL i
hard to see how he could have been
blind TO the contradictions between
his preface and his artistic express
sion Of the subject in the rest Of the
Book For Batouala" is a terrible
indictment Of the negro race: an
unsparing. entirely unmitigated
statement Of sheer animaIism. with
out one single redeeming trait. with
out a suggestion OF any hopeful
progressive human virtue or a trace
Of any human quality that could L.
held worth preserving in 4 world
that aspires 10 rise above the brute
creation. on the other hand. the
preface is an impassioned plea for
Justice to the individual negro. ana
for an altrulstic settlement of the
ominously rising negro problem as il
exists in America. North and South.
and in Africa. and. to a small extent,
10 Europe.
How the two lines Of thought are
to be reconciled is not apparent. NJ.
Maran himself gives US no clew 10
his own harm0nization scheme. IL ne
has any. 1t may be suggested. diff
fidently. that there is a little con-
fusion OF thought involved. The
negro question. as a modern problem.
is not the problem OF the negro in a
Sstate Of nature" in an African
Jungle. but OF the very much modi-
Ted negro as he exists in civilized
Society. or in contact with civiliza-
ton. and. usually. of the negro who
Is not Of pure negro blood bur who
has at least a trace Of some modi-
Tying element in his makeup. In
fact, the character OF the negro as
be is shown by VI. Maran to exist
IN his native habitat Is. for the most
part. aside from the question.
III.
But NJ. Maran's preface Is i'm
portant enough to call for very