Evening star., 1934-04-15

quarrels among the marsilals of the scramble
for money and position the concomitants
of success. and humorous estimates of char
acter (and how characters did disclose them
selves after ElbaD make Mr. Macdonell's book
lively reading For the most accurate and dis
eliminating history, one should probably lock
elsewhere. but any one who has read Mr. Mac
donells humorous fctional essay on English
character, England. their England" knows
that he locks far beneath the surface in his
judgment Of personalities and motives.
THE FOOL OF VENUS. The Story of Peire
Vidal BY George Cronyn. New York:
Covici-Friede.
THE CRUSADES with their lofty idealism
which expressed itself in the striving for
the capture and protection of the Holy Sep
ulchre from the Turks. and their practical
realism of adventure and trade, spread glamour
the Middle Ages. Scott in two of his
romances. "Ivanhoe' and "The Talisman,"
celebrated the adventures of Richard !, Occur
de Lion, and his crusade in the last years of
the twelfth century. The period of The Fool
OF Venus is the as that of Scotts ro-
mances. 1t was the age of the troubadours,
singers of love and war. Peire Vidal one of
the greatest of these and knight and crusader
as well. He was ugly in perSonl appearance,
came of no noble family for he was the son
OF a Toulouse furrier, and won for himself
all he ever attained in life. But he had one
supreme asset he under the patronage of
Venus. So he wooed and won by his song every
woman who found favor with him. Even kings
and noblemen stepped aside for him. Worship
ing at the shrine of Venus, he found her
reincarnation in Adelase des Baux, who in
spired the grande passion of his life. He might
have been father of an emperor, but refused
the honor for his son; in the eyes of mis- con-
<temporaries he was a rather crazy genius He
A,,-l,f aII - h1@t1
by land and sea and saved Coeur de Lion him.
self during the Third Crusade. He had mania
for justice in an age when force was god. He
made enemies of many of the powerful poten-
tates of Europe, among them the Pope. the
Emperor of New Rome the Venetian Doge, and
Richard Of England: He died maG-the fool of
Venus.
Into the background and events of this ro-
nance of Peire Vidal crowded much of the
lore of the age of feudalism and chivalry. The
intrigues of crusading knights. their forays and
hand-to-hand warfare their banquets and
jousts, their seductions and abductions of noble
ladies and lowly handmaidens, their piety and
brutality, their lyric song, courts of love and
musical contests in the intervals of armed
paradeS, all form part of the picture of pre-
Renaissance Europe, Soon the Revival of
Learning to come with its great art and
literature and some of its foremost precursors
were the troubadours, of whom Peire Vidal
was the most original. Mr.. Cronyn has drawn
for his material upon the chronicles of Frois-
sart and Villehardouin and the songs of Vidal
himself which compose sort of lyrical diary"
The resulting story has all the charm of a true
medieval romance, such as "Aucassin and
Nicolette" or Malory's "Morte d'Arthur.'
KALEIDOSCOPE Thirteen Stories and Novel;
cites. By Stefan Zweig. Translated by Eden
and Cedar Paul New York: The Viking
Press.
CTEFAN ZWEIG'S first success in Europe
- was in the form of "novellen," or long
short stories, such as make up this volume.
Now his reputation centers on Marie Anto-
nette," one of the most successful of last years
biographies which demonstrates his story
telling gift and art almost well do his
novelettes. These 13 stories are not unucky;
they are exceedingly good. In spite of the fact
that there are only T. or 10, or IA possible story
plots Gone can never remember the exact num-
ber as given ex cathedra by short-story critics.,
Stefan Zweig succeeds in this collection in
making all his plots seem original But plot
with him is subordinate to character. His chief
interest is psychology-the psychology of his
subjects and his own psychology under the
stimulus of the personalities about which he
writes. That is why he has chosen for his
biographies such far from commonplace human
beings as Joseph Fouche, Franz MeSmer, Mary
Baker Eddy, Sigmund Freud, Tolstoy, Casanova,
Stendhal, Balzac Dostoeffsky.
Of the stories in Kaleidoscope" 1.-THE Burn
ing Secret" is one of the best-the saving of a
woman from an unworthy liaison by the re-
sentiment, persistence and pugnacity of her
young son, who yet does not understand what
it is all about. Almost equally good is "Buch-
mendel,' the story of an old woman who treas.
ures the memory of a dead scholar through the
preservation of a book of his which would have
shocked her inexpressibly had she been able
to read its Latin. "Virata" is inspired by
India and Buddhist philosophy "Leporella"