Evening star., 1930-12-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Many persons greeted the award of
the Nobel Prize in literature to Sinclair
Lewis with pretended surprise, as II 1t
were the strangest thing in the world
that his novels had met with European
appreciation.
AS matter of fact, nothing was more
natural, as those readers acquainted
with the full range Of French fiction
know Sinclair Lewis is the writing son
of Emile zola, whose IL 'Assommoir, .
Mana" and "Germinal" once astound-
ed the world.
In Main Street" "Babbitt" and ell
mer Gantry," to say nothing of Arrow
smith" Mr.. Lewis has written so plainly
in the manner of his master that 1t is
apparent to all who will read
This does not imply imitation in any
sense of the word, for the manner of
zola is the universal style of the realist,
the objective writer who scorns to go
too much inside his characters but is
willing to let their deeds and their
words speak for them.
A Europe which never took too kindly
to Dickensian sentimentalism, the eS-
sence of written Victorianism, absorbed
the novels of Zola by the hundred of
thousands of copies. They made tre-
mendouS impression, even when they
we're denounced-perhaps because they
we're denounced.
The so-called realistic school of fic-
ton has long since gone Zola one bet
ter; in fact, several better. That grand
old man of French letters, although he
wrote ruthlesSly in sense, was a piker,
as we say, when it came to out-and-out
descriptions. He had more sense!
He left a great deal to the imagina-
ton. as it were. In "Une Page
D'Amour," one of his lesser known nov
els, he leaves the readers standing on
the threshold of seduction. In similar
manner Lewis told about Rabbits viss>
to house of illfame, before and after
ward, but not during.
X X X
II shall make all Paris weep" wrote
Zola to a friend just before he pub
lished the book mentioned above. In
most English translations the title is
given as "A Love Episode"
1t was to be, in his viewpoint an ut
terly pure novel, one to astound by its
difference the readers of "L'ASsorn-
noir," which has just swept the read
ing world.
We read "Une Page D'Amour" last
week. prepared to be disappointed, and
instead were immensely pleased; for
here is typical Zolaesque tale for one
who likes the flavor. Not every one
will, of course.
Zola had a dispassionate, cold way
of looking at things, but he knew his
effects and he sought them by COM
bining his mind with his heart.
He wanted to make Paris weep. In
this he did not succeed. but at least he
wrote straightforward story, an &C
count of woman who strayed once
into the path of evil and as quickly out
again.
We do not believe that "Une Page
D'Amour" can strike any reader as
mawkish. 1t is built around the sick
ness and death of child. The de-
scriptionS of Paris. as seen from a
height, were, above all, the writer's
care.
He put a great deal into them, and
some will think too much although
they furnish the motif, as it were, for
much of the action. When zola wrote
about anything-well, he wrote about it..
If one does not have the patience to
read about the appearance Of Paris on
clear Gays and on rainy days during
fog and mist and snow, he will scarcely
like "a Love Episode"
He will want to get more story. fall
ing to realize that this is story, too. In