Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-01
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. C.. NJ.
VOLTAIRE: Genius of Mockery. Vic
tor Thaddeus. Brentano'S.

VOLTAIRE: Genius of Mockery. Vic
tor Thaddeus. Brentano's.
Why "Voltaire dead and gone
hundred years plus half another hun
ored?
The past is, in effect, negligible. Man
is dull pupil. The present, TOO, is
but mammoth springboard for hui
manity'S eager leap of into the bright
promises of the nearing years The
future Is all that countS-even though
It, also, be forever rolling backward to
add to innumerable futile pasts There
fore, why ''Voltaire?"
The other day some one said. MANY
never do die because, forsooth, they have
never been born"-nor truly born. That
same one might have gone on to say
as no doubt he did, that at some rare
now or then man appears who lives
forever by virtue of his complete
identity with each succeeding present.
rushing onward to meet fruition in the
beckoningS of the future.
And, so. Voltaire-continuou CO.
temporaneous, arch rebel against tyr
amy, fleming advocate of liberty in
individual life and individual thought.
In his own bodily day it was the
tyranny Of king and church against
which he fought. 1t was a social order
that debased the multitude for the
exaltation of temporal monarch and
spiritual overload that he decried and
defied. In his last days, Voltaire. the
old man, looked with Joy upon our own
rebellion. took pride in our own Revolu-
ton. Could mis- sight have reached a
little farther, as maybe 1t did, he
would have seen the French Revolution
itself sweeping forward to prove his
own lessons In liberty and equality.
You have read Voltaire, of course.
You have read OF his dramas and
poetry. his philosophical works, his polit-
ical theories. his outlook upon the
science which for him was embodied
In the doctrine OF Newton Maybe YOU
have read, too, some of his hack verse.
eulogies fronted upon the vanity of
kings. For, this Voltaire, thinking well
OF his own head and desiring to Keep
1t In touch with his own body, developed
flare for sycophancy.
Meet Voltaire again. Here he is, as
much part Of our own present as we
ourselves are. Meet Voltaire, promoter.
pressing the Righteousness of equality as
against the evils Of oppression, advocat-
ing the claims of free thought and free
speech by every art and vile of which
ne Is so clearly master. Meet this
modern advertiser, pushing himself into
the glare OF publicity through a laugh
ing Scorn OF the great ones OF the earth.
Now he goes to prison, twice in the
Bastllle-sounds like today, doesn't it,!
More than once banished because he
could not be suppressed. Adroit, subtle,
laughing, sneering. as he forever pressed
the claims of progress, insisted in a
larger freedom for thought A money
maker, too. Knew about financial
projects, dipped into these, familiar
with the mystery of stocks and bonds
or their equivalent in his day-knew
these like Wall Street itself Finally, a
rich man. Yet. in the main, he gave
himself to hatred of war, to condem-
nation OF war-makers, to oppression,
fronting steadily upon peace, equality,
happiness.
1t is in the French mood that Mr..
Thaddeus offers "Voltaire," the man,
the political agitator. the philosopher,
the dramatist. the poet Clarity of
thought. the rule of logic and fact.
dominate the writer. This is coupled
with an equal clarity of expression. A
dramatic imagination is at work here
and an understanding of the human.
These gifts and powers are centered
upon the great equalitarian of the
eighteenth century. They serve to de-
liver to us personal adventure with
this brilliant. puzzling, masterful and
fascinating figure as 1t moves out of
the past TO take its place in our own
immediate concerns, to walk beside us
in the manifold affairs of the present
and OF the approaching future. A work
OF great Illumination in It's dramatic
projection of the living voltaire.
SALAMANCA. Gustave Flaubert The
Modern Library.
You have read Madame Bovary."
generally called Flaubert's masterpiece.
Now read "Salammbo," by the other
Flaubert. For there were two of him.
without question. One an austere
realist The other. flaming romanti-
cist. The first, engaged heart and soul
with Emma Bovary, wife of country
doctor. The second, faring out into
barbaric warfare at the behest of
heather gods. These two novels rep
resent the twofold capacity of this
great writer. In the one a small coun-
tryside of Normandy engages to the
limit his powers of observation, of
analysis, of Interpretation and portrayal.
Having exhausted these In their effect
upon the life of Emma Bovary, he, still
not satisfied. opens up the young woman
herself Tor an examination of the
sources Of her small secret satisfactions,
for a prying into the imaginary life
invented by her to round out something
like q bearable existence in the dull
round OF her days. But-you have read
the story. You know the way of this
austere and Unsuitable prober of the
human heart, conscientious In the use
OF his own words as he is relentless
also with the inner workings of the sub
ject in hand.
We are told that Flaubert, save for
one small adventure In travel, never
did leave his native France. And what
that journey into the East did to him
you may find out, in part, by way of
"Salammbo" and the other novels of
its kind that we're inspired by such an
outfaring.
Here is a gorgeous pageantry of bar
barrie warfare, wherein heather gods in
cite rulers, conveniently, to fall upon
one another for the reprisals of wider
dominion and greater power. Here is
the story OF Carthage, at a moment
OF its long endeavor to rise to suprem-
acy, not only in Africa, but on the
northern shores of the Mediterranean
as well. You recall the school lesson.
running to the effect that the elder
Cato ended every speech that he made
IN the Roman Senate with Carthage
must be destroyed" Well, it was oe-
stroyed finally, as you know. This
novel sets to amazing drama one of the
phases OF that progression Of Carthage
toward determination. Flaubert chooses
slim thread of story for the tremen-
dous spectacle that he invents. Nothing
more than dissertation of the temple OF
Tanit by the seizure of the sacred veil
Of supernal powers that hid the great
deity from mortal sight. This stands as
the foundation of the amazing matter.
Now the veil had been stolen by mere
mortal, by a barbarian at that. He,
Matho, in wild love passion for Salamm-
DO, the daughter OF Hamilcar, mighty
Carthaginian general, had stolen the
veil and carried 1t to the chamber of
Salammbo. Sacrilege, unspeakable! It Is