Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-06
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EMERSON: The Enraptured Yankee.
Regis Michaud. Translated by
George Boas. Harper & Bros.
To pass in authority upon event or
character through the medium Of his
tory or biography only those are quail
fed who stand close to the matter in
hand either by way OF racial tie or ma
tional bond.
A worn-out notion. A claim whose
invalidity becomes Immediately and
strikingly clear in Ludwig, MauroiS,
Michaud and other recent recorders and
artists of alien strain. 1t Is easy to re-
call, moreover, that in the eighteenth
century quite a flock of French writers
portrayed English men and affairs in a
clarity of appraisal, of logic, of nlumi-
mating artistry not surpassed by even
the most gifted Of the native islanders.
Intimacy of approach is likely to prove
a beclouding medium. Family pride, so
to speak, steps in to smooth the rough
surface of truth, to round its sharp
corners, to impose a myopic distortion
to the true proportions of the study.
The patriotic fervors of national preju-
dice frequently serve to obscure the
best power of annalist and artist. In
evidence, see the enasculate Washing
ton to which the American people have
fallen heir, the impotent Jefferson, and
many another great man turned to
effgy through the unfortunate zeal OF
writer's to provide paragons and exam
Piles for the use of those who come after.
X X
Reading Michauds Emerson" there
slipped into my mind that flower in
the crannied WALTZ pluck you out
of the crannies, hold you here, root
and all, in my hand" So, in the hand
of this French writer is Emerson, root
and ALL" Deep roots that go far back
into English soil for their beginnings,
into the soil Of religion and politics and
the overlordship of kings, into the
rough uplands of protest and revolt,
into the martyrdom of migration across
wide and stormy seas into an alien
land. Then, the Puritan in New Eng
land, these later roots of this "en-
raptured Yankee" Where under a
cruel climate, thin soil, hard labor, gen.
eral poverty, terrifying Indians, the
God of the Puritan became ever more
exacting, more jealous of happiness for
the children of men. Moving forward
M. Michaud reaches Ralph Waldo him.
self, who with his immediate family
has retreated from the rocky ground OF
the early Puritan practices and beliefs
into the suaver and more humane field
of the Unitarian persuasion. Not
enough room here either for this par
ticular Emerson who, therefore, begins
that lifelong journey toward the soll-
tudes of nature, toward the aloofness
OF philosophic thought. To his neigh
borhood Emerson becomes a recluse.
To the world he becomes transpar-
ency of thought through which may be
seen a vision CT mans nature and des-
tiny, of mans relationship to the earth
itself in the makeup of his body. the
quality of his spirit, the source of his
powers and their alliance with Emer-
sons conceptions of divinity even. 1t
is through each phase of this retreating
pilgrim that M. Michaud identifies
himself in a zeal Of companionship, OF
comprehension, of sympathy and some
times of compassion. Now and then he
smiles at Ralph Waldo, for, individually,
this New England sage ~ upon occasion
provocative in that direction. Child
like and sometimes childish. Pleased
with public approval, with plaudits
even. A shade vain, or so he would
seem were he John Smith and not
Ralph Waldo Emerson. It Is such per-
feet and complete comprehension on
the part of Regis Michaud, coupled
with so good a sense of proportion and
so clear a power of characterization
that, for the first time, turns out a
complete man, a rounded and believ-
able Emerson to take the place of the
abstraction which so generally passes
for the man himself Understand. here
is the full man in his great contribu-
ton to the thinking of his day, of any
day. Here he is set out in his wide
reading and his considerable scholar
ship, in his Independent views, in his
somewhat revolutionary theories of
mans design and destiny. But, with
all this, are added just those man-traits
and man-behaviors that bring him
close by way of our own partakings in
his clearly human impulses and reac-
lions. We come to see, as it Is i'm
portant that we should see, that here
are two men, at least. The outer man
takes a wife, two On the course OF time,
and begets children. AS a house man,
husband and father, he is rather pa
thetic or would be did we not know OF
the rich inner man from whom we have
already learned to do little of our own
thinking, as he so clearly did all of his.
From him we have taken courage to
entertain even startling thoughts and
convictions on the kinship Of man to
God, on the nature of both of these, on
the future of this relationship under
the amazing expansion of modern life
in material ways and spiritual.
A complete re-embodiment of Emer-
son comes to us here by way OF this study
so peculiarly French in its sanity OF
view, in its demand for the whole man,
in its competency to measure the con-
tent and power of Emerson's work, in
its world sense of intellectual achieve
ment as a standard for this appraisal,
in its freedom from sentimental or
other emotional content. Then, so hui
manly understanding Is the study. And,
besides, 1t Is of beauty in its projec-
ton that makes the book delight for
its readers, something like an inSpira-
ticn, also Having finished the first
reading of it, my next move was to
gather Emerson himself from my book
shelves for new adventure with the
"enraptured Yankee" and that, take
it, is fair measure OF M: Michauds
service In time when one has to wade
through books or to walk around them,
to crawl over them as they crowd about
waiting each for its turn.
X X x
EMILY DICKENSON: Friend and
Neighbor MacGregor Jenkins. Lit
tie, Brown & Co.
The year 1880 provides opportunity
for centenary observances of the birth
of Emily Dickinson. Within the past
few years only the rebirth of this
woman as a poet of power and distinc-
ton has taken place. Dead and gone
for almost half hundred years. this
New England poet is today accorded
warm and wide recognition for the po-
etic quality of her work. And because
we are curious concerning those who
are endowed with genius, that strange
gift of the gods, we are at the mo-
ment alert for any word about Emily
Dickenson-any reliable word. For, like
the markedly different ones every
tha., lacraaad h G