Evening star., 1926-10-12
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. G.. NJ.
MAPE: The World Of Illusion. andre
Maurois. Translator, Eric sutton
D. Appleton & Co.

teristic vein of intimacy with them
and seasoned Judgment upon them'
DR.. Joseph Collins touches at one
point on beauty in writing. 1t Is
through choice of words and arrange
ment of phrases that proselike poetry
takes on the tone and rhytnm, tne
color and cadence of music ltseA'
Now practically every one 1eeis ~
some degree the charm OF music III
such measure, therefore. does every
one find JOY in writings that wake up
and tune in with his own rhythmic
sense-a JOY that lies unaroused under
the rough and stumbling effects of
the tone-deaf author. And by impll-
cation the doctor commends writers
in the cultivation of this musical
sense. In part it is an achievement
that enhances their own art; in other
part it contributes to the deeper ap'
probation and pleasure of multitude
of readers. He cites examples Tor
emulation in this respect-Walter
Pater of yesterday, Havelock Ellis
Of today.
when Anatole France died'-the
doctor still talking-"he was probably
the most widely known author in the
world, and he owed his reputation
more to the manner Of presenting MS
material than to its substance. even
though there are plots and situations
in some of his stories that are great
in conception. He did with words
what Toscanini, by use of an orches-
ira, does with a score-makes har-
mony that blends us body and soul
with the beauty Of the world. Words
were the orchestra of Anatole France. y
According to the personal view OF
Joseph Collins. the leader of this word
orchestra today is George Moore in
England; in France, Jean COcteau; in
America there are three outstanding
leaders, Edna st. Vincent Millay,
Sherwood Anderson and James
Branch Cabell.
If YOU have read "Ariel' and
"Mape," you feel quite secure, I'm
certain, in opening to Andre Maurols
the door behind which stand these
other recognized music makers of
prose. And this, too, despite the fact
that a translator steps in here be-
tween author and reader. Eric SUIT
ton has in the role of translator
moved happily and triumphantly into
the common current of French think
ing; he has seized appreciatively upon
the genius Of the French idiom; he
has boarded every grain OF Galllc
flavor while moving MaurOis over into
English. Equally, his enthusiastic ac-
ceptance of biography. according to
the authors theory of 1t, adds ols-
tinctly to the spirit of this book.
All that counts in any life are those
things that bring this life to its nigh
est point. The rest is rubbish TO De
thrown away and forgotten. Whether
bn nf mOmpnt save
to it's possessOr, or whether it be or
the scanty few that claim general
consideration, this fact holds. Such is
the theory of true biography held by
Andre Maurois. Carried out, the
theory becomes clean-cut. life pointed
upon a goal, adventure OF the hlghest
| and most exciting kind.
Under this concept the author pro-
iects Goethe, Balzac, Mrs. Siddons.
| Not till these great figures Withdraw
from the world of fact into that OF
| Illusion are they able to interpret
reality truthfully and poignantiy 10
others. Only when Goethe moves
apart and away from his own egotlsms
and amours and rending griefs and
easv consultations does he have the
vision. the sense of likelihood and pro-
portion in human behaviorS, the de-
tachment to build his great cathedral ,
1.-THE Sorrows of the Young Werther.
That is his pinnacle reached in the
world of illusion, and Goethe's life is
significant only as it peoples this do
main with truth. Nothing but TINS
counts in his life. Only this does
Naurois consider. And it is only when
BalZac, fussy and fat In ms daliy
existence, goes away into the world
of dreams that he creates characters
Y,alyo thn second OF
these studies plausible and interest
| ing thing. This is the story OF
youth who steps bodily into one OF
! the BalZac characters, there to i've
out the aims and habits, the failures
and successes of that character
| There is nothing to Balzac for the
| biographer save that part of which ne
| took with him into his dream world
! SO Maurois believes and so he be
! haves in respect to the great French
| writer. The famous Mrs. SiddonS
model of respectable maternity, deeply
| concerned with food and t1annels for
| the babies, becomes truly genius
| only when, deprived of the children
she takes refuge in the Elusive world
! of the stage. where for the first time
| she pours out in a divine fire of act
! ing the bitter truth of a broken heart
| A great tragedienne at last. And only
| the influences toward that end con
| stit,1te the life of Mrs. Siddons, ac
! cording to Andre Maurois. Here is
biography of the really convincing
sort Here, besides, is a music
maker of modern prose.
| X X x X
THE SILVER STALLION. James
! Branch Cabell Robert M. Mcbride
| Co.
| And here's another one. This one
receives not only the seal of DR.
| Joseph Collins, but the stamp as well
| of every tone-true reader of hctior
today. Not everybody, however
reads James Branch Cabell. SO. not
everybody knows what symphonies
he can create with words. In the
| first place, Cabell goes too far back
| for his themes to be interesting to 8
public that wants it's fiction to be, like
a. famous candy, fresh every hour ,
Besides, he writes in parables-or are
thev parables?-and folks want theiI
| reading to follow a straight road. with
| danger" and "detour' set up against
any possible bewilderment on theil
| part Then, again, parallels and allie
| gories belong to the Bible and other
ancient and more or less occult ways
of delivering religious and moral in
struction. No, they'll not have him
Not all of them. Especially the tribe
of "Tumblebug" will have nothing OF
him. "You are offensive" cries tht
king of this tribe. citing SO many
ways of offense that one instinctively
! reaches for the book-'The Silver
Stallion or "Jurgen."
The old days from which the Cabel
tales are likely to emerge give the
author tremendous latitude, every
which way They provide sumptuou:
I matters whose only acceptable vehicle
is a rich and embroidered speech
They allow a plain speaking that II
a current time and theme would be a:
unseemly as a beggar astride a beau
/ tifrlI,- ga ra risnned Steed They nerrni