The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-09-10


dwell upon others. In stripping his heroine
and those whom she meets, of traits which
are rooted deeply in their character and
temper he discards that part of the con-
seriousness of each which is most stable
and constant. He keeps only that which
is most atmospheric, most easily penetrated
and modified. This enables him to return
once more though in very different cir
cumstances, to a study of the inter-rela-
tions of personalities. The action, reac-
ton and modification of states of mind or
feeling of different persons when they are
brought into close contact with one an
other.
If now, instead of studying in "Lucienne"
the omission of things which we, guided
by our experience of other novelists, might
well expect to find in it., we examine this
novel with an eye to the development OF
matter which would be unstressed in
more conventional work, we find that Jules
Romans has treated his fundamental data
in such way that they may yield, as
the big moments of the story, striking
passages where Lucienne is in the pres
ence of one or more persons and, by the
mingling of her personality with theirs
feels their effect upon herself and her
own effect upon them. Most remarkable
among these passages are perhaps the
description of Lucienne's initial visit to
the Barbelenet home, and of the first
piano lesson which she gives to Cecile and
Marthe In the former, she senses the
attitude of the easygoing, peasantlike M.
Barbelenet, of the formal Madame Barbele-
net. of Cecile. enigmatic and passionate.
of Marthe, sympathetic and devoted; IL
is significant that this visit which, In real
life, was made up of conversation, Is re-
ported by our author with scarcely word
of direct quotation. In its place we find
such an expression of intuition as the
following: "On my left the elder of the
daughters was so placed as to give me
feeling of obscurity. ! felt her as
a body constantly dark. / would have
given quite little not to have her there.
Not that she could be forming hostile or
disdainfu ideas about me. l even believe
that she thought me nicely built good to
look upon, neither too simple nor too ele-
CANT. But why did 1 think: She has
doubts about my ability She feels that
long enough. To suit her ! should now
find pretext for sitting down at the
piano and playing hard exercise fit to
show off the nimbleness of my fingers, or
some brilliant piece, all from memory. But
the conversation does not take that turn.
It's too bad. She will have to be con-
tented with judging me, little by little.
And in the meanwhile she will feel bound
to have certain respect for me: she will
suffer my directions Professionally, for the
time being only. Yes, this is unfortunate,
especially when the difference in our ages
is so small. >"
1t is these characteristics which cause
me to compare "Lucienne'' to the work
of the New York painter to which have
already referred. the artist who makes
mems souls stand out as aurae and takes
pleasure in combining these aurae. The
general idea animating the two artists,
the painter and the writer. seems similar,
and the results have vague, though only
vague, resemblance. The figures depicted
by Jules Romans are indeed little I'M
real perhaps. and there is, now and again.
something slightly artificial about the
rending of the effect produced when two
personalities overlap. But 1 should be
sorry If my comparison led to the belief
that Romainss book is inhuman. Cold
and lifeless as a description of it may
sound. the impression left upon the reader
by the book itself is by no means stiff or
unlovely. Quite on the contrary, "Lu-
cienne' is one of the most interesting
novels that has appeared for some months