Evening star., 1947-12-07

exile
When he writes on what he has
seen and endured, it is merely Ito
state what one learns in the midst
of aff1iction, that there are more
things in men to be admired than
things to be despised." This last
phrase is an optimism without illu-
sions. an austere optimism. It's
yirility was accepted SO quickly that
it has demonstrated that there are
always F'renchmen with hope in the
future. in spite of the difficulties of
present-day life.
French Novelists Demand
Perspective of 70 Years
No other work in 1947 made q
particular impression, especially In
the field of the novel which, in
France, continues to pass through
an obvious crisis. This temporary
lack of accomplishment is not q
sign of sterility, but springs from
the very concept that French writer's
have of the novel, and with them
all those who have been trained &C
cording to the spirit of the ancient
classical culture. A book which has
its place among the masterpieces
of the universal novel, such as War
and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy, was it
not written and published 80 years
after the Napoleonic epic which it
evokes? That is because Tolstoy
had been sucked on our literature,
in which the novel is not, as with
other younger peoples, work Of the
moment and close cousin to report
ing, but a slow and mellowed work,
filled to the full OF ratiocjnations
conducted at length.
Without the power and without
the inclination to invent offhand
fictions, just as they are coming out
of the great tragedy through which
the world has just passed land in
the face of the shadowy menace
which weighs upon u.s., the French
novelists are still too close to events
to write about the terrible years
from 1899 to 1945. They need the
perspective of time. The great
books on these dark years will see
the light of day in France some Is
or 20 years hence, just as the 'Ver-
dun" of Jules Romans, Volumne
XVI of "Hommes de Bonne VolOnte"
(Men of Good wild, was born 20
years after the battle of Verdun.
Foreign Books Take Hold
To Fill Public Demand
1t is none the less true that this
dilatoriness in production on the
part of our novelists does not square
at all with the legitimate impatience
of fob Ia
lack of balance and the vogue in
France which foreign books continue
to enjoy. Doubtless a part of this
vogue is explained by the salient
interests of the moment; thus the
work of v. Kravchenko, Il Chose
Freedom has had tremendous
run with us.
The fact is that the rivalry be-
tween the United States and the
U. S. S. r., foretold long ago by
French historians and statesmen
such as Theirs and TOcqueVjue, to-
day has become SO acute in charac-
ter that all the peoples of Western
Europe are led to give immediate
thought to such a subject. 1t Is
very difficult, during the times
through which we are passing, for
economic and political worries not
to become involved in intellectual
matters. The opposition between
the two great blocs, American and
Slav, in a measure determines the
reading choice of some Frenchmen
(although there should be no exag-
geration), depending upon the camp
in which they find themselves. IT
this field, furthermore, America 1.
winning hands down
In the theater, one OF the hits o1
the year was Erskine Caldwell's ITO
bacco Road" LA Route all Tabac)
in J. Kirkland's dramatized version
On the other side of the picture
John Steinbeck's The Moon i
Down CNuits Noires) was half
way failure. and the long novel
Grapes of Wrath" Lies Raisins d.
la Colere). did not cause the sti
that r~~' -
Supply OF boo~s Hampers
Understanding of u. S.