New-York tribune., 1922-12-31

their moments Of leisure. II is rather
plouant TO observe that IN this same coun-
tr, two Of the novels which are favorably
mentioned for the Concourt Prize contain
n, bu.Nan characters at all One Of these
a "Le roman de la riyiere," BY Georges
Ponsot. Cres publication; the other is
Aoricn H. Corbeau's "Le gigantesque'' pub
llihrd By charpcniier
de roman de- Ia uyiere" Is delightful
and poetic story whose action passes az the
bsttom OF "a river and whose actors arc all hsn.
For Zen years. or since arsl d"fhe Crock
nj Cold" have been prejudiccd against hsh.
You may recall the words Of The philo opher
IN their regard he l. speaking Of water
and Of it, general inutdity and he has oe'
eesion 10 voice to Meehawl MaeNurraehu his
otinion Of hsh. II have often fancied'' he
ssys. that fish are dirty, ~ and unintelh-
GENT pcoplc this IS due to their staying 20
much in the water. and Il has been observed
that on being removed from this element
they NJ once expire through sheer ecstasy
A. oscapin, from their prolonged washing.
We'll. itita very pretty theory and confess
that was taken in by Il 20 ar unreasonable
degree. But NJ. Ponsot has converted 'ne
to another point OF view. Certainly, the
next time that yoluble little James stephens
turns up in Paris shall have Il out 1th
hin. on the "tcrTassc" Of the Dome cate a.
Montparnsssc (whcre should never go ex-
copt to see him). However. about this book.
II displays fish TO be pretty much ss We are.
save that they eyince no hypocrisy snd be-
q. I.a Nn
even the Boishcyists. doubt X Lenin, FOR
example. would have swallowed the Car
whole. beginning With his head, and yet
that Is what Nareissc did to his enemy when
he was still a very little pike and had no
idea Of succeeding Grand Pcrre as king Of
the river. Fish are honest people; the weak
fear the strong without pretending il is re-
speet they feel.
They are intelligent people; they keep
away from those they fear Their manners.
was interested to learn. are almost as per
feet a. those Of the Chinese, and while they
hold no ceremonies for the dead (which u.s.
after all an outmoded supersttionl they
respecs their elders and harkcn 20 their
wisdom. And this wisdom is no mean thing.
King: "Far from me, indeed. is the detest-
able idea that your people have the right
to dispose Of themselves / do not ssk you
10 consult them. You know their most secret
thoughts. since you eat them And am not
A. all certain that II you we're 20 liberate
them they would not be moved by habit 20
put their fate back between your teeth n
they should change masters," the barbel con
tirued, they would be tke paythings Of the
new master tomorrow as they are yours
to-day"
And hear tho wisdom Of Kiss. the aged eel:
Kiss stretched herself in the mud and re-
heeted az length on the problem OF happ-
ness A she could find no solution accept.
allie TO old eel she glded into the grass
OF the field and gobbled a little green frog
that was chasing a blue hy" Charming. isn't
IL? So is the entire book Il is being pub.
lhhed in English and ought to be brought
out with appropriate illustrations
~ E GGGANTEsQUE" is another affair. Il
- should be taken less seriously than lie
roman de IA riyiere," but am obliged TO con.
sider IL in more serious manner. N. lie
Ccrbeau's hand is elegant and fine He
writes exeeliently and--when one has got into
the book-very interestingly, but he writes
of deep" things, and try as he may he can
not excite me over his hero. 6OOO-ycar.old
scquoia. as much as NJ Ponsot interested
met IN his pike. W. he Corbcau has written
a Roman philosophiQue When we were
younger we were all going to write contes
philosophiques la maniere de Remy Gour.
mont. Here is one that seems 10 me q minr-