Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-03-28

I"E puDlcatlon IN tranSlatlonS tnl
i spring of three French novels give
American readers not familiar with tn,
language an opportunity to discover fo
themselves what are the tendencies o
modern French literature. The reade
may say that he does not care In wha
direction French or any other literatur,
is moving, SO long as 1t Is interesting
but IL he will recall that literature |,
the mirror in which the spirit OF the
time is reflected IL may dawn on hi.
consciousness that novel Is something
more than q story. even though the nov
elist had no other intention than tC
write an entertaining narrative.
Every novelist is a chameleon, tax
ing on the color Of his environment. He
cannot help 1t. for he cannot detach
himself from the social and moral infiu
ences at work around him. All his
thinking is colored by them, whether he
is in revolt against them or is CO.
operating to make them more effective.
There is nothing new in this. / have
restatcd it simply that the habtuaI
novel reader may remind himself that
he is constantly acQuainting himself
with the data from which, IL he Wills,
he can discover what Is going on in
the minds of men about him.
These three French nOrels indi.
cato in three different ruys that
there is in France a lireiy dpprecid-
ton Of the basic human virtues.
T EFT us consider first Maria Chap
- delaine" lThe Macmillan Com
pany). Some one aware that it IS a
novel about the French Canadians i'll
the Lake ST. John country in Quebec
may argue that 1t is not French novel.
The mere statement of the objection re :
flutes it. A novel does not have to be
written about France TO be a French
novel. The only requirement is that
It be written by Frenchman. Wheth-
err he write about Canada. or Russia
or the South Seas, every idea thai he
expresses and every phrase that he uses
is tinctured with the color of the France
that he knows. Louis Hemon. who
wrote Maria Chapdelane. IS a
Frenchman who went to Canada from
France 10 seek his fortune and spent
a year and half in the part of Que
bee in which he has laid the scene OF
his story. He took with him his French
mind. his French prepossessions and
I,,s af ,,in ND he ,ha
intelligent use of these he has pro-
duced n novel which would be an orna =
ment to any literature. 1t Is great in
its simplicity and in its perception OF
the powerful forces which hold society
together and lead men and women TO
bear courageously the burden that life
puts upon them.
The people in the novel are the lum-
bermen and the trappers and the pio-
neers who are clearing the Canadian
wilderness and making it fit for human
habitation. They are simple folk with
primitive emotions, who live without
the conveniences Of thickly settled com :
munities. There Is much sordidness
among them and much beastly passion.
4 novelist whose eyes never rise above
the waistline would have made Of this
story a repulsive thing because he could
not perceive the beauty that there is in
simple loyalty. lie would have de.
scribed the surface Of things where Mr..
Hemon has gone TO the heart of them.
1t Is the story of the romance OF
Maria. which blossoms and warns her
heart for months only to die when her
lover IS lost in Christmas snOwstorm
She says nothing of It, but her father
and mother. with full appreciation OF
her tragedy. are as delicately consider
ate of her as If they had been trained
in the retinements of the best society.
The novelist has shown that it Is no,
necessary to live in the Faubourg st.
German in order to be a gentleman or
gentlewoman. Then when Maria. who
knows thar she cannot nurse her griel
forever and mourn over the tomb OF her
romance, comes to choose between two
other lovers, one who would bring heI
to the United States to live in n city
and the other who would take her to
his own farm in the forest TO help him
make home in the kind Of surrounding
with which she was familiar, where she
knew that In spite OF all the hardships
there was hope and faith and trust
she decides in favor Of the pioneer who
had loved her long and patiently and
would be kind to her and her children.