Evening star., 1928-11-20
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. C.. NJ.
FRANCOIS WILLOW. D. B. Wyndham
Lewis. Coward Mccain Co.

| 4. ". VI.
FRANCOIS WILLOW. D. 3. Wyndham
Lewis. Coward-McCann Co.
With the weathered soil of half a
thousand years packed in upon him.
Francois Villon, willful and insurgent,
refuses the ultimate decree against all
mankind, rejects death and oblivion.
Periodically, therefore-say once in a
hundred years or more or less-Villon.
insolent one, repudiates the grave and
steps out in challenge of the genius that
it Is to savor once again upon his twist
ed lips the world that he so loved and
hated. that so hated and loved him.
And not ever before has the recrul-
descence Of this wastrel poet of the
Middle Ages been so fitly timed as is the
present one. That he has been VEL
coined stands clear in the fact that,
within a few weeks of each other. two
important and competent studies of VIII
lon have been published. Both of these
are projected in that spirit Of research
which. above every other consideration,
demands the full and exact truth of the
matter under hand. 1t is such passion
for truth that is, nowadays, fashion.ng
the mind of the investigator into a
keen -edged tool of research, into a per-
feet balance for the weighing of related
values, into an open channel of ac-
ceptance for that which the subject out
of its own pure essence delivers, uncon-
taminated. as legitimate and consid-
cradle part of the matter itself. It is
that spirit which in the present devises
methods of straight approach, that &C
cepts only first-hand material as the
basis to which may be added only such
secondary stuff as can bear the rigid
test of authenticity. And all this is but
the beginning of the work itself It is
but the attitude of approach and appre-
citation.
Wyndham Lewis "Villon' is a thing
to read. deliberately, from cover to
cover, from the middle to the end, from
the beginning to the middle-then, here
and there many times to refresh further
some fugitive point of Interest," BY this
time the reader has come into the salts
fed contentment that fine achieve
ment in any direction is certain to
rouse. Authentic, inclusive, complete,
we'll ordered and perfectly sustained
10 a. u
umph of rare scholarship. Profound
student and master craftsman Joined
hands In this enterprise. But scholar
ship as an end in itself does not reach
far. It never has. 1t never will. In
this case, however, there is no danger
since here it is but the means. and that
only in part, by way of which Wynd-
ham Lewis brings Francois Villon back
to earth, setting him down in his owr1
time and place, there to muddy his
own life hopelessly, there also to crefGe
for himself the immortality of genius.
Reading here, one gets an immediate
effect that is strange and exciting
He is literally back in the Paris ol
medieval days where. sometimes on bit
ter nights. wolves prowl hungrtly the
streets that run foul and sinking witt
the refuse of the town. More thar
,, this, the adventurer within this book
does not stand by merely looking on al
the pranks and outlawry of Villon ane
his gang Not at all. He goes alone
instead from street brawl to drunken
revelry at the tavern Of Fat Margot oil
another where Villon's quick tongue
and readiness to sling verse have
made him welcome more than once ol
twice" He even goes to jail with the
rascal suffering with him the fright
full water torture. the question" faded
In our own day to the still reprehensible
third degree" Twice he suffer:
sentence of death with this thief ano
murderer. and twice by miracles edge
they both escape the sentence. To-
gether, nervous and apprehensive, they
climb the hangman's hill of that Gay
Montfaucon, where upon creaking glib
bets hang objects that once were men
but that under the drench of rain and
the burn Of sun and the clawing OF
hungry birds are just those swinging
and terrifying lengths of bone. And
finally Villon is banished. No longer
can his loved and hated Paris endure
the strain of so much inventive wicked
| ness, of so much of lust for evil. Lister
to this hour which the reader shares
to the depths Of him: THE last houl
with Master Guillaune de Villon may
be we'll imagined also; the overhangine
cloud Of sorrow; the forced cheerful
ness of the old man; the visage of the
poet, darker and more haggard than
ever: the old priest and his servant
striving to keep their grief In check
by fussing over the boys bundle, his
change Of hose, the half-pasty. the bot
tie of Beaune saved for him; and al
length the final embrace, the purse
thrust into his hand the last benedic-
ton muttered over his head by an old
man blinded with tears; the STOPPING
figure in its black gown standing in the
open doorway blessing and comfort
ing the wanderer for the last time with
the cross, and the slouching figure of
the poet going heavily down the
cloister." past this familiar place and
that one, on out and away to the
Orleans road. He died. Nobody knows
when or where. Yet 1t is possible to
picture him at the last, standing on
the final hilltop of the Middle Ages
looking across toward the advancing
dawn of the Renaissance. He is hurl-
ing into that shining abyss handfuls OF
bright gems. brilliant diamonds of song,
hard and imperishable. and with an
oath he Is crying out to the new day,
Beat that If you CAM" And 1t did not
II could not.
Beside the living Villon himself there
is here study of his work. The quail
ity of his poetry Is appraised, its forms
are analyzed. its mechanics described
1t is part of the whole, an equal part
but 1t Is by the man himself that one
will stay, certainly till he has read this
book many times. And one who read;
1t all will go back to it over and over
The pity of all life Is in 1t. The meas
ure of genius is reasserted upon new
and better basis.
How did Wyndham Lewis achieve
this amazing reality from long and
mostly forgotten past? In the first place
he lived with that past for four years,
just getting ready, just finding the
feel of that old day in Paris. With
map of the medieval town he hunted
out every remaining building. or street,
or site, that In any way related to the
period and particularly to the career of
Villon. He absorbed the place and the
time. He ate and drank and slept
and lived 1t all. Then 1.-The book be-
gan in my mind on gray day, heavy
with snow. as was lettering in the
courtyard of st. en-le-Pauvre. that
little hidden church which is the heart
Of the Latin Quarter and is so charged
with memory" And he goes on to tell
a1N hir jo.1 Nc mot