The Washington herald., 1922-02-05
NECRO'SN NOVEL
SHOCKS FRANCE;
LISBON RCENSED
Disgusting" Say Read
ers of Book Awarded
Concourt Prize.

PARIS, Feb. Paris is shocked.
The miracle has been accomplished
by book. The literary world OF
France is perhaps the most liberal
in the world. 1t accepts everything
provided 1T Is artistic, Therefore
when 1.-The Academic Concourt, which
is a kind OF revolutionary rival OF
the classic Academic Francaise,
awarded its prize for 1921 to "Batou-
ala" with the SUBJ title "A Real Negro
Novel," written by Rene Maran. a
Martinique negro. there was a rush
to the bookstores and the sales Of
"Batouala" ran into the thousands.
Doubtless the fact that newspaper
and magazine reviewers spoke guard
edly about negro orgies" and start
ling revelations OF the tyranny of the
whites had something to do with the
sales. But, their curiousity satisfied.
Partisan readers delivered a unani-
nous verdict II Is that "Batouala" is
merely distinguishing.
Germans Are Gratifed.
On top OF this comes the news from
Lisbon that the Portuguese govern
ment, incensed at Maran's accusations
against Portuguese colonial admins
traitors, even though expressed
through the medium of fiction, is
about to request the French govern
ment to suppress the book. The Ger
mans have seized on the book as a
weapon of propaganda against France.
A Berlin firm is preparing a pamphlet
for distribution in the United States,
composed of extracts from "Batou-
ala" which is described as An sc-
cusation countersigned by the French
Academy-Concourt.
Is Serie. Of sketches.
The novel itself, or rather the
series OF sketches OF negro life in
Equatorial Africa, for that is all it
is, can be condensed into a paragraph.
Batouala is the chief OF a tribe OF
the region of Grimari. near the head
waters OF the Nile and the Congo.
part OF the French Equatorial Africa.
He lives in a state of indolent con-
tent. blissfully unconscious. or un-
mindful, Of the fact that eight OF
his nine wives have been willing vic
tins of Bissibingui, the Don Juan
Of the tribe. until one day he dis
covers that Bissibingui's advances to
Yassiguindja, the ninth and youngest
Of his spouses, are looked upon with
keen approval by the lady in question.
Batouals hides his jealous hate under
a mask OF comradeship and lures Bis
sibingui into an ambush in order TO
kill him. A panther intervenes. with
the result that Batouala dies after
days Of torturing pain, while Bissibin-
gui and Yassiguindja embrace and
jeer the stricken chief
SaturnaIIa Is Described.
Although the author of the book
is a negro" writes one critic. who
by the way considers the novel in
anything but an unfriendIy spirit.
''he teaches US absolutely nothing
about the sentiments, thoughts, beliefs
or habits OF the colored race. II a
white had the same facilities. under
stood the language OF the people and
lived among them as Maran has done.
he would have given us something
much deeper and much broader"
Half the book is unintelligible
being filled with native expressions
the meaning OF which the author does
not attempt to convey.
One entire chapter is devoted TO a
thoroughly realistic description OF a
revolving African orgie, in which the
entire Batouala tribe participated, be-
ginning with savage music and dane IS
and ending in what Marsn calls "a
saturnalia OF brutes. free from all
control. where desire alone was
master"