Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-16
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRAcEWELL.

| Above ALL those romances were "the
man."
His foibles were incidental. Yet this
biography under discussion gives the
reader the impression that these were
really Dumas.
He Is made out a sort of glorifled
buf1oon, man who by no possibility
could have accomplished the gigantic
labors OF writing so many and SO great
novels in long hand, page after page
Drumming over with gayety and a GER
tain Joy of living which have
charmed so many readers ever since.
These sketchy biographies, which are
almost legion, misplace the accent
They are pot-boilers thrown together
by ambitious writer's and publishers to
catch the wave of public interest.
They remind us Of some notices Of
musical comedy presentation we have
read with all references to the music
left out. The music, of course, was
exactly the thing we wanted to know
about. Was it good, and If so, what
were the names of the hits? Yet one
might think there had been no music at
| all in the show, to judge by the lack
OF mention of it. The beauty and grace
Of the girls received due acknowledge
ment, as did the dancing of the stars
but If they sang anything the reader
was left to guess it by the fact of the
play having been advertised as a "musi-
cal comedy"
Matthew Josephson, in his review OF
the massive production called "Zola.
gives us first and foremost the musical
writer Of some 80 novels, each and
every one large, both II conception and
| length. Such a man had but one real
life, for posterity, and that was his life
In relation to his books. He wrote
therefore he was. When we think OF
lola today we think of "L'Assommoir,
"Germinal," Mana" In "zola and His
Time" the reader is given "LAssom-
moir," "Germinal," Mana" first OF all
The plot Of the book leads up to them
and declines from them to the unfor-
gettable end.
The time and the place and the gin
| play their parts in "zola and His Time,
but they do not play them to the ex-
clusion of the solid, meaty books which
make up the "Rougon -Macquart' series
Consider the matter for a moment
Could any man, in a world such as this,
devote enough time and thought and
labor to produce more than 80 novels
without those same works constituting
"the man.? We believe anything else
impossible writer who insists on giV-.
| ing us Dumas with his romances left
out is producing Hamlet" without the
Dane. We may be intrigued by dis
| play Of fact and fancy, but we keep on
asking about Monte Cristo" Why
| aren't we told that Dumas got the idea
and something of the plot for his i'm
mortal Three MusketeerS" from the
real memoirs of real M. D,Artagnani
And why aren't we informed that these
same memoirs, still available to any
reader, are but so much suet compared
with the charming roast which the
master chef made out of them?
| Certainly those interested In the art OF
writing will enjoy most "Zola and His
Time" but since almost every one today
practices both reading and writing the
audience for Mr.. Josephson's work
should be extended every day. Here
| is a biography which descends to none
of the tricks of the so-called new school
but nevertheless squarely falls within
the charmed circle, while holding fast
to the solid merits of the old. lola wa;
one of the most interesting men who
! ever lived, man of peculiar interest tC
most of US because he was so like most
of us, in many particulars. There Is
q saying that there is at least one move
| in every man. If this is so, lola is the
man to help bring them out. Yet dc
not make the mistake of thinking hi;
method" easy; he did not follow II
himself except in so far as it PLEASED
him. If you want to know how Q
methodical-minded man could at thu
same time be poet, how q man who
wrote by rule at the same time wrote
with inspiration. read "zola and Hi
! Time" 1t is not new, but 1t Is mighty
good.