Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-03
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. C. M.


Maurois. D. Appleton q Co.
With waywise readers, therefore more
or less exacting readers, biography is
nowadays running neck and neck with
the novel itself in favor.
Not so long ago, as periods of time
count, both biography and history were
claSsed in practical effect with other
dead matter Indeed, this status was
q prime credential Of the two, from
which they drew dependable stability
favorable to examination, comparison,
deduction. The cratic behaviors Of liv-
ing things stood, in contrast, as the
deplorable source Of uncertainty and Inc
conclusion. These two subjects there
fore constituted in the main the field
OF the scholar from which he hoped to
secure possibly a smothered candle
lame of disclosure upon the present
or, even more obviously, a Pickering
FREELY light upon the future. AS for
the common man, these subjects were
merely part of the dreary routine of
becoming educated" Maybe, besides,
an instinctively pious gesture toward an
ancient past, even yet Of intimidating
potencieS.
Today, seeing biography so up and
dressed ana all ready to go, taking its
part in current affairs with sturdy COM
petence on its side, with ready accept
ance on the other side, one naturally
questions the cause of such emergence
from the grave Of forgotten things into
the open OF daily contacts and prompt
reactions.
Here Andre Maurois, competent and
satisfying modern biographer, talks
straight from his own experiences with
the subject about some Of its new as
poets and powers, about its direct and
ef1ciant influence upon current life.
The .:eart of NJ Maurois' discussion
throughout is that the surface skim
mingS of event. either in the life of a
man or OF nation, will no longer do.
That rumor and hearsay,r passing crook
edly from one to another, lead away
from the subject and not into it. That
record even, made with labor and pains
taxing, sums to a body of externalS
which loses In any actual efficacy of i'm
port through the shifting and transit
tory character of the circumstances
from which these reportingS arose.
The six chapters of this book were,
primarily, lectures before a body of stu
dents. Conversations, rather. Easy,
informal, friendly, free from any pure
~ academic SAVIOR. Sidney Roberts,
lifting them from the French over into
English, appears to have lost no grain
OF that Gallo intellectual penetration,
that acuity OF Interpretation, that spirit
ual fellowship for which NJ. Maurois
and the rest of his tribe are so deeply
and so highly valued.
From many an angle Of approach
does this writer take hand with biog-
raphy, old and new. Considering his
subject concretely, NJ Maurois calls to
judgment one after another of these
histories, from st. COLUMBIA on
through the Middle Ages, down to the
present day and hour. Out from their
book houses he calls various of these
famous characters, asking them to tell
whether or not the records of them are
true revelation. Therefore, whether or
not they are of value in helping to
solve the prime riddle of creation-man.
Are they, these books, true to the day
and hour Of their portrayal? Are they
true to the man himself and, therefore,
calculated to promote understanding, to
modify behaviors, to direct affairs, to
compass the full spirit through chang
ing eraS Of time and circumstance?
tionships. Such the purpose, such the
use, in effect the sole use, of history
and its companion, biography.
M. Maurois tests biography as science,
as art, as means of expression for the
artist, and then moves into conSidera-
ton of autobiography BY way of this
study it becomes clear that science Is
the controlling spirit Of the new biog-
graphy as it is of every other form OF
human endeavor. To know the truth.
Such is the sum and substance OF all
effort. Investigation, research, proof,
evidence, retrial, revision under fresh
science in this modern day has imposed
upon every activity, upon all human re-
lationships. Not only in industry, not
in governments and politics alone, not
in the finding of new worlds, not In the
of modern invention-are these
urgencies toward exact truth compulsory.
In searching the heart of man also is
the demand equally imperative. And
so, nowadays, the old rurnors and re-
cordings will no longer do, as M. Maui
rois make so stirringly clear. Original
sources of Observation-Disclosures, personal
diaries and business deal
ms that are matters of official nota-
ton, straight facts of blood and birth
and influences upon the early and plas-
tic years-theSe are the material, in
kind, for the recreative work OF the BIZ
ographer.
And even with such store of material,
from the basic sources of Information,
there are great difficulties. Let us look
at a few of them. A man of scholarly
habit and of scientific spirit, having
searched indefatigably, having gathered
abundantly, sits surrounded by the
materials of another man-the one
whose life he is going to set out for
others to read. Here he Is: a tuSn
seeker. Here it is, the truth. A straight
matter, it seems, though one Of great
and grinding labor. Yet, almost at
once, interventions make their appear
ance. Things begin to come in between.
The first obtruder is the purpose Of the
work. Why is it being dons? In earlier
and more piouS days authors wrote
Lives" of good and holy men to induce
others to Righteousness. Nowadays the
object may be different, is different. But
it is none the less powerful in directiAg
the pen. The purpose drives the WORK
and usually unbalances it away from
many an important truth of character
or conduct belonging to the subject In
hand. Again, the writer himself is
distinct Intervention. His own mbr3d
way of looking at life, the drift OF his
own intellectual habit, the color ana
depth of his own feelings-hiS prelu-
dices, if you will-theSe and innumerable
other personal equations come IN 10
modify the character of him with whom
he is working. The shift OF time ltse1
is powerful agency against the re,
creation Of a man in his own day ana
A powerful hindrance TO
the free flow Of his spirit out into the
present as a contributory influence.
Today original sources of ntorma-
ton" is hobby of assertion, even for
the passing novel or the makeshlft
pamphlet. 1t is a menace to serious
writing where its Office, in good hands
is high and important. Newly dis
covered documents" serve the most
shallow and transitory of needs. Even
in expert hands these invaluable RECORDS
become at times a danger, even historic
calamity. For the passing author sucn
claims are short-sighted nonsense.
The other day there came, into the
Book Room, Chronicle. off1cial period
ical of the University OF Callfornla.
competent, admirable