Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-09
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. G.. NJ.
THE MAGIC SKIN. Honore de Balzac
e.

Little, Brown g. Co.
| Had We lived a century ago or in its
near thereabout and had been at Paris
we should certainly have heard upon
the streets frequent mention OF
young man who so far, 1t is true, had
more of promise to offer than OF actual
achievements young author. really
no one to write back home about; not
vet. Nevertheless, in 1928 this was
already an outstanding figure, possibly
such in part by the sheer audacity OF
| his ambition; poor as poverty itself,
! not robust in body, Zealot Tor nard
labor, passionate toward learning, which
he absorbed in gargantuan orgies OF
reading at hours when he should have
! been alseep, and withal possessed OF a
| literary dream that was. beyond all rea-
son. as dreams are so likely TO De.
Obscurity could not hide man OF TINS
stripe, not even in the general turmoh
which was Paris at this period, when
sudden political shifts ran the swift
gamut from empire to revolution, TO
| kingdom, back to revolution again. then
on to republic-back and forth under
| the passionate urge Of a selt-delivered
people.
Balzac died at 81. So within span
! of 30 years-a little more, little
| LESLIE triumphed over his dreams,
forcing it into that astounding achieve
ment, Coincide Humane" history
/ of society in the nineteenth century
! from the viewpoint of Frenchman.
This Partisan explorative field is
widened, however, by Balzacs scientific
zeal for truth in respect to the human,
| by an imaginative power OF singular
quality and use. by dramatic artistry
| in the union of material and the tools
that shape 1t. In word, Balzac uni
versailles his work through the genius
that so clearly possesses him.
| And here we are back again in our
own day and place. Between our time
and that of Balzac the literal 100 years
have stretched in effect to full 500.
Action and speed in an unholy alli-
anCe dominate the present There is
no time, no time for anything where
| demands are so many. so varied, so
| urgent Such thing as leisure does
not exist. Yet one must read and
reading exacts leisure. In this situa-
! ton, to draw up before the truly monu-
mental work of Balzac with any serious
designs upon it is indeed staggering
| thing to do Or it would be were it not
for the saving grace and helping hand
of our publishers. They know-none
better-that time Is not only money,
but that it is many other essential
and desirable things as well. So from
| the writings of one genius or another
they select for us that which IS most
truly representative, most important,
most interesting, leaving it to us there
after to pursue this lead or to abandon
| 1t at will.
|! Therefore, for the driven persons use
! of BalZac, Little, Brown & Co. has
chosen The Magic Skin" one Of the
! early novels, one of the most mastery
F, of them all. Here is story calculated
| to command two classes of readers.
| One 'of these will accept it at its face
value The other will take 1t for its
| depth of significance and for its power
of projection along vital lines of human
| existence
| Read for entertainment, this is truly
weird tale Its basic idea has already
served poet and dramatist and fabulist
over and over again. The heart of this
| idea lis simply barter, a bargain-so
much for so much. This is mine
now, but for price 1t Is yours" The
exchange is made. Sometimes the price
| entails the rest of a lifetime. reshaping
| 1t to meet the demands of the bargain.
So it is here.
Young Raphael. the center Of this
I lIlVGIlLlOIl, DtdGSu dIlQ III uCopdiLt Id OAA
| the way to his own death. When night
comes to cover the unseenly act he is
! going to drown himself in the Seine.
Meanwhile, waiting for the darkness, he
enters the dim shop of a dealer in rare
and interesting and costly things, NOV
| ing about among them in the manner
| of possible buyer. From floor to
! floor he goes till at the top of the build
| ing his eye is caught by an odd object
hanging upon the wall, This is the
/ skin of some animal cured artfully to
/ give 1t shining appearance. While
4 he is looking at it the old shopkeeper
| appears. There and then bargain is
struck, tense and dramatic bit of bar
tering this one, and Raphael goes his
way, doubling yet hoping, for he is
| in possession of the magic skin" The
old man has told him that it will bring
to pass his every wish, no matter how
| great the wish may be nor how SEEM
1ngly remote from any possible fulfill
ment. With the granting of each de-
| sire there will come a shrinking of the
magic skin, with corresponding effect
! upon the life of Raphael, upon his death
as well. But Raphael is young and life
is long. He is ready. even ardent, to
dare many shrinkings of the magic
shagreen before age can catch him, and
| VIII by its own nature cool his blood
and shut off his wild desires. Raphael
friends with whom he sets off for a
feast The beginning of his new life,
| you see. So the story goes on, step by
step, through lndulgences of every sort
because this is youth, fearless and hun
! cry for every pleasure In the very
pattern of life-life in Paris in the nine
tenth century-the bargain moves for
ward to its fulillment in the fate of
| young Raphael.
| Inside this weird and fantastic in
vention stands another story-the story
OF man under the dominion of thought
and desire and will, these, through the
common course of daily life, reacting
upon one another. either in strength or
IN weakness thereby deciding the fate
OF the individual as, on the one hand,
man fulfilled to his highest capacity
| or, on the other hand, man degraded
below the level of humanity. BY impli-
cation, therefore, in this second story
| every one is In possession of magic
| skin which ruthlessly takes toll of his
desires carried forward into action, eat
ing his life away or expanding it as
the case may be. In other words every
being is his own nemesis, his thoughts
and actions determining the nature of
their effects upon his body and soul
And here Balzac is the rare psychologist,
the keen analyst, the clear logician in
the realm of the mind and spirit. One
follows along, testing, agreeing. ac-
cepting. BY what standard? BY him
self. of course, by the reactions of his
own mind to the situations set down
here; by something like a clear cer-
tainty that much of this story is auto
geographic in its views and beliefs: by
the equal certainty that !, the reader.
out of his own depths-se1ret depths it
may be-is directly collaborating here
with the great author of Coincide
Humane" After all. the individual has
to measure and decide primarily by
himself in such knowledge of himself
| he has honestly parf1nrad mt Of tha