Evening star., 1933-02-11
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH G. BOWERMAN.
Napoleon has perhaps had an unfair

Napoleon has perhaps had an unfair
share Of the glory Of being written
about, as he had of military glory while
he lived. In searching for q distin-
glished subject, If one in the field OF
conquest Is desired, why do not more
biographers go back to julius Caesar OF
Alexander the Great or Tamerlane Clack
Of material need be no preventive, In
these days of fictionized biography or
among the moderns, Frederick the
Great? Following closely after Hilaire
Belloc's Napoleon" comes Napoleon
by Jacques Bainville, translated from
the French by Hamish Miles. Boston
Little. Brown & Coz The fact that
Jacques Bainville is both a French his
torian Of recognized merit and a bril-
liant writer predispoSes in favor OF his
book. and his fulfillment does not dis
appoint. It makes such superficial
treatment as Ludwig's Napoleon.
which has its interest, seem akin to
hack work. The Bainville Napoleon
is an attempt so to relate the facts and
to interpret them as to explain the per-
sonahty of the man and the wonders OF
his career. NJ Bainville says in his
preface that Napoleon himself used to
say that "'how' and why were such
useful questions that they could not be
used too often. We have used them on
himself" His aim, he tells us. Is tc
make the reader see the life of Napo-
leon with the unity and the breaks OF
unity which it contains" and to enable
him to form his own opinion about the
enignatical character.
r X X \
an 1853 Louis XIV annexed Corsica
to the Kingdom of France. How could
he have suspected that in the following
year the founder Of a fourth dynasty
would be born within this new acquisi-
tion?" Napoleon was born a nonentity
with nothing about him to alarm either
King, church or populace. He never
gave any one time to suspect him OF
anything. He leaped into dictatorship
almost before people were aware of his
existence. Swiftness marked his whole
rise to power, and his downfall was
equally swift. Five years six months
and eighteen days he spent as a prisoner
on st. Helena-more than a tenth oi
his life, for he was in his fifty-Second
year when he died. In his exile he
retained only one right, but valuable
one-that Of complaint" He passed
Judgment on his captors and their GUS
tody, in accordance with the rules OF
hospitality, and found them lacking
He noted the offenses committed against
the decencies and proprieties and callet
the attention Of the world to his griev.
ances. He had given up all thought Of
escape. Where could he go? And his
health was falling. 1T might be added
even, with admiration, not in irony, that
he rose to this situation as he had risen
to others, and that, allowing for some
m SNk11 T.
played the role of martyr to perfection
For the idea of grandeur sustained him
even more than the sense Of his dignity
There was undoubtedly something oi
the play-actor about Napoleon, perhaps
the actor in melodrama, for in some
way the elements of a profound tragedy
seem lacking. In his Longwood prison
which Lord RoSebery called "a collec-
ton OF huts which had been constructed
as a cattle she'd" the creation Of a ira
dition went on busily. Las Cases, a for.
mer emigre, devoted follower of Napo-
leon in his exile, became his biographer
and the editor of the diaries kept by the
other members Of the petty court at
st. Helena. They all knew that They
were entering immortality, and Napo-
leon was quite aware that notes were
being made all round him" From these
notes came the Memorial of st. Hell
ena," not a model of impartial biogra-
ply. In his peroration, in the cfapte,
TRANSPORTATION" M. Jacques Bainville
becomes philosophical and views Napo-
leon in his relation to world develop
ment. He says that Napoleon recog.
nized that he had eclipsed FredericI
the Great and that he would be the
greatest of popular legends until some
other hero should arise. THAT other
hero has not come" And "it may be
that, in the course of time, Ampere will
count for more than Napoleon. The
Napoleonic era may prove to be no more
styled the Age of Electricity"
\ X X
John Galsworthy, whose recent
death has deprived England of per.
haps her foremost novelist, in a re.
cent article in THE Modern Thinker.
called "Novelists in Profile" discusse:
the future of the novel He says: "Ths
future OF the novel does not depend or
this or that fashion in technique, O,
such and such economic developments
IL depends on whether or no acciden
Is going to throw up novelists endowed
with one or other, or preferably both
OF two qualities neither of which car
be defined. These qualities are stature
and charm. BY the law of averages eaci
decade should provide about the same
number Of novelists so endowed; but
study Of the past will disclose, think
considerable gaps; and study Of tn,
present will cause some uneasiness IL
regard to the future. There Is some.
thing about this age which Is inimica
to stature. Even individual tempera.
ment is being leveled down by pub.
licity, limelight, Standardization, spe.
cialization and rapid communication
1t seems curious, but think it is true
that the intellectual activity we cal
cleverness is inimical to stature-ant
this is very clever age, and gettins
cleverer."
The Strachey family apparently mus
write. The first novel Of julia
Strachey, niece of Lytton Strachey, ha.
recently appeared in England. 1t /
entitled Cheerful Weather for th,
Wedding" and recounts the misadven.
lures of wedding party, with cleve,
sketches Of all the participants. It i,
shortly to be published In this country
II X x
In Volume 10 Of the Dictionary O
American Biography, which has re-
Gently appeared, there are II johnson,
and Johnstons and 81 Joneses. Tn,
Kings come next, with the Lanes, Jen
kinS, and Judsons not far behind
Among the Johnsons, through one O
life's little ironies, is the name of AlIer
johnson, first editor in chief of tn,
Dictionary, who planned its charactel
and scope and carried out a large par
of the enterprise, but was tragicall,
killed by an automobile accident abou
two years ago. The biography of DR.
Allen Johnson was written by DIR. j
Franklin Jameson, chairman of tn,
Committee OF Management.
y \ X \
In his biography, John Quincy Ad
ans: Old Man Eloquent" Bennett
Champ Clark, son Of the formel
Speaker Of the House Of Representa-
tives, and himself recently elected t