New-York tribune., 1922-07-23

which he portrays personages analo-
gous to those of the Satyricon. But
he falls far short of Dostoievski. The
characters of "Crime and Punishment'
are primitive, but they are motivated d
by spring which vibrates in the hu
man soul far more powerfully than
that fear of punishment and terror of
the police which move Carco's baker
and prostitute-I mean the notion of
sin. This is an old-fashioned idea, and
l apologize for presenting it to read
ers of an enlightened page. Neverthe-
less, the prevalence Of this notion is
more general than some of us like to
believe, and its eradication slower than
most readers Of modern novels are
aware.
THE publication Of tho "rrois I'm
~ postures" Of P. j. Toulet has
drawn from Paul Souday an entertain
ing portrait Of their author, which 7
paraphrase for you.
"Toulet's was a singular DESTINY. He
was creole, born at Bourbon Of
Bearnaise family, who spent twenty
years in Paris generally unobserved.
He went out only after dark, devoted
his nights to drinking highballs in
public bars and slept all day. Some
body once excited his indignation bv
inviting him to luncheon and was quail
flied as person who did not know how
to live. These habits rather restrained
the circle Of his acquaintance. He dis
dained the public, and the public ie-
nored him. For long time the com
panions of his nocturnal drinking bouts
and even his friends failed to take
him seriously. He never lacked wit,
but he was wilfully and naturally
para doxical. His most familiar pleas
antries were directed against the
French Revolution and the idea of de-
mocracy. He was avidly interested In
colonial politics, and spoke of it con-
stantly, but his preachments about m en-
Of action were by no mischance trans
lated into practice.
One wonders when he worked: he
was the pattern of an amateur. Nev-
ertheless he published, at great inter
walls, few small, witty and curious
volumes. Collaborating with the joy-
Gus Curnenski, he write Monsieur
du Pour, homme publique," "Le Ma
riage de Don Quichotte," "Mon Ami
Name" and "Tendres menages." which
won for him pretty reputation as
ironist and writer. Later, a number
of young men became fascinated by
his intellectual and corporeal atti-
tudes, his sinuous, coiled thinness, his
irascible temper, the dogmatism with
which, over his whisky and soda, he
pronounced his aggressive and face
tious oracles. He had admirers to
whom he became a great man. These
he left suddenly, going to Guethary in
an attempt to secure from nature a
new lining for his stomach. After a
few years he died. Among his quail
fications for imm ortality are atheism
and misogyny, and his "Trois Impos-
tures," now posthumously published,
refers to friends, women and gods.
The Goncourt Prize Novel will be
named one Of these days. I present
Martin du Cards "Le Cahier Girls" and
(if short stories are acceptable) Mo-
rand's "Ouvert la Mutt" The latter
is to be published in English in the
autumn by Chapman & Dodd, new
English firm, in translation by Ezra
Pound. "Tendres Stocks" will be
published in Pound translation at
the same time. / dare hope that the
manuscript translation which I have
seen will have been revised, and that,
by way of example, "portiers gallon
nes" will not be printed in English as
Embroidered portiers."
Morand will publish "Fermk la Mutt"
shortly. He has in preparation q
fourth collection of tales, one of which
heard read from manuscript the other
evening. 1t is called "La femme
agenouillee," delicate and humorous
story written with that gift of vivid
metaphor and evidence of miraculous
ly alert observation which appear in
all his hooks. No gtOrV-tpI1er de-
scribes SO we'll what he sees as Morand,
nor depends SO entirely for his sue
cess upon the thing really seen. On
the other hand, few writer's Of Mo-
rand's distinction are SO feeble in pure
imagination as he. The quality for
which I am most grateful, however, is
that he never raises a moral issue.
What an unruffed life he must live!