The New York herald., 1922-10-15
The World of
Foreign Books
FRENCH BOOKS Surveyed by A. G. H. SPIERS.

in Numea. When still child he came in
contact with those convicts who out there,
have created a morality and law of their
own In Carco's family these were treated
with the interest and pity which every
human being deserves. Later CARGO came
to Paris where he suffered poverty and in
the Bohemia of 1912, 1913 and 1914 came to
know men or boys resembling, not con-
sciously but unconsciousy, the convicts of
Numea. He was neither frightened nor
disgusted with them-nor did they attract
him unduly. Having been accustomed to
consider such beings as natural neighbors,
though. hardly TO be recommended, he was
able to study them without undue senti-
ment'
1t is this calm realism and this broad
sympathy that raise the books of CARGO,
for all the customary unpleasantness of
the milieux which most of them depict, to
the level of self-respecting literature. CARGO
himself is perhaps fully aware of this fact;
for we note a progress in this direction as
we look over the chronological list of his
works. In "Jesus-la-Ca certain pas
sages reveal characters so inherently re-
pulsive that they spoil momentarily the
enjoyment of even the none too fastidious
reader-passages which in spite of an es-
sentially healthy treatment would in all
probability make it impossible for the
Academy to give any sort of official recog-
milton to this novel In subsequent books.
however, such passages do not occur cat
least they do not occur in the three works
with which the present writer is familiar;
he has had no acquaintance with a fourth
work entitled "Rien qu'une femme)
The best of these later books is. in the
opinion of many. "TEquipe" (the gang).
Here again we find ourselves in a world of
primitive instincts and unsophisticated
human values. Ruse, brute strength.
jealousy, hatred, instructive compassion
and rough loyalty rule this world, as
they do the world of the animals; and over
them all. imparting TO the whole certain
epic grandeur, broods distinctly human
passion: the torture of an elemental con-
science. While Bouve has been in prison a
rival gangster. Bobeche. has sought to
usurp his position and his authority as
head of crew of thieves and thugs
On his release Bouve, whose life Bobeche
has attempted. fights the latter on the
banks of the Seine and throws his body
into the river. thinking thus to regain the
peaceful enjoyment of his former power.
Unfortunately for him. however. he now
falls prey to an emotion as fundamental
as any which have swayed him heretofore
Bobeche's aged mother. suspecting the
truth, asks Bouve what he has done with
her son. where he has put him. Bouve
does not betray himself bur he is ever
thereafter haunted by the memory of the
piteous old woman. He finds rest only on
the day when finally. in a scene during
which he does not abandon his jeering
and violence, he is forced to tell her the
details of her sons DEATH
This study of primitive mentality is
striking, and the novel in which it occurs
is well constructed. holding the interest
and satisfying the artistic sense by a good
balance between the particular and the
general. We can ourselves appreciate the
compulsion under which Bouve acts. and
yet at the same time we are convinced of
the truth of the painting of human beings
very different from ourselves This is
the CARGO who knows the human being;
it is also the CARGO who is very familiar
with the convicts, their manner of thought
and their feelings.
Another Of Carco's more recent books has
Il peculiar charm which will recommend IL
particularly TO a certain class of readers.
Though less even than aEqupe" in its
technic the Scenes de Ia Vie de Mont
martre" represents with evident truth To
inspiration df not to detaiD the sufferings
-