The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 23, 1898, Page 24

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, N HE final novel in Zola's trilogy, | “Paris,” is now appearing serially | in Le Journal and is attracting constderable in lterary | circles. It tion of “Lourdes” ai enting rs under new con- familiar charact ditlons and in 2 different environment. In regard to tr acter and acope of | this work, as to his method in writing it, Zo statements to t the St. Petersburg Nov; the following | s correspondent of Dieu: “It 1s true that s' has not re- quired as m time either of the | other parts of the trilcgy. I have not | had to travel, easler task than having consumed 1 has been n to resort to ‘docu- | ments' most assiduously, since I have had to touch upon every sphere of civil- ized human activity to Introduce the reader into every movement and school | ht, 1t artistic, po- | The reader will be- nted with every aspect of of the French capital, is nece it ha been & much | ng of ‘Rome,’ | months. It come ac the rich life though the trea perficial—kale 1 cannot any ma upon & thorough knowledge of it. requires observation, verification study. For example, I had occ speak of a fac ., and hs on account of tory, I was obli in mastering the fact, I bestowed more than on eit three cities in the true tains much sor on ‘Paris’ er of the other novels in the serfes. ‘Par sense of the moveme: is a romance term. It con- and action, many personages and changing scenes. Most conspicu rse, is the Abbe Froment. In b cc 1 study the role of Paris in mod cate its future mis: It in my opinion, very great. I point to Paris as the beacon illuminating the path of the intellectual life and progress of all man- kind. You foreigners may not agree with me in regarding Paris as the capital of the world; but I have done everything possible to justify the title, ‘City of Light, which Paris has 80 properly gained for itself. | “But do not think that I culogize and laud Paris. I do not cover up lis dark | side and do not ignore the evils which undermine it. I simply show that the | life-giving and invigorating spring which will quench man's thirst for knowledge and satisfy his yearning for moral de-| velopment and perfection takes its course from—originates In—Paris. The purity and power of this spring depend on the material prosperity of Paris. Rome s to be dismantied In favor of Parls, where Abbe Froment will acquire his new cult of science ¥ ity, and where he w itual peace | and joy, after having vainly sought them at Lourdes and Rome.” | More explicit an ory and indi- clear 1s Zola's refer- | ence to the social and politcal teachings of his novel in an interview with the ! representative of Le Temps, Paris. We | translate from It as follows: “I do not spare the vices of Parls, but even the crime committed in the course | of my study only serves to accentuate the virtue and nobility of the great city, this refuge of life and goodness to which Froment comes to warm his heart. Here, in Paris, he conceives the ldea of the new religion of the future, of the better social order slowly developing out of the tra- vafl of s0 many workers. Thus Paris. with all its philanthropy. proves the utter impotence of charitv. which rests on a sentiment that Christian and anti social. It is necessary that the idea of justice, which places the weak on their own feet, should supplant the fdea of philanthropy, which merely supports the wealk In their fallen and degraded condi- tion. The era of justice is dawning in Parls. After three years' life in Parls, my hero, Abbe Froment. who left Rome in despalr, welcomes with sweet w! pers of gratitude the new heaven and | earth he Is permitted to behold. The | solution T give accords with my own ma- tured views of the heneficence of life, of | the greatness of human destiny. when the | sole foundation of soclety shall be labor. Zola declares that while he has intro-! duced all kinds and conditions of men— nobles. financiers, revolutionists, anarch- | ists. decadents, savants. workmen and | politicians. he has nowhere photographed | reality and has not painted the portraits | of contemporary individuals. The lovers | of scandal. he savs. will be disappolinted | though there is plenty of material for excited polemics. Anticipating adverse criticism. Zola says: “T expect the same reception as that accorded to previous works, but I hope | that after my death I may be judged | with greater fairness. Then it will, per- haps, be recognized that I was neither & pessimist nor a corrupter. He s not & pessimist who on every occasion sings hymns to life; he is not a corrupter who tirelessly and earnestly proclaims the high dignity and worth of lubor. Let any one go through the entire Rougon-Mac- quart serfes and he wiil find that love of life and passion for work shine through every ona of its pnges, There s nothing worse than solitude, idleness and death, and againet these foes have I striven, It is utterly unjust to charge that I have sought to pervert and confuse minds, 1f 1 am indifferent to this felse verdict, it | seems to be peculiarly unfortunate in the | French are past masters of is because I do not belleve it will stand long.” Indeed, the Installments of the novel that have already appeared indicate that | Zola s a convert to the socialistic phil- | osophy of soctal life. Through his hero, Plerre Froment, he is to preach brother- hood, equality and solldarity as defined by the modern socialists. WHAT’S IN A NAME? Is there any room for originality in the matter of names? Literary men on both sides of the At- lantic are puzzling themselves over the question, because during this century of prolific production so many people have written books and given names to them that it seems impossible to find a new title. The best the unfortunate author can do is to find a forgotten name for his book, and even then he can never be sure that some Inquisitive bibliographer will not discover his iniquity. A wise modern cynic has remarked that origin- ality can be expected from nobody save a lunatic, a hermit, or a sensational novelist. But nowadays the last exception should | be omitted, for sensationaliats sre not remarkable for the novelty of thelir {@eas. I think it is the omniscient Kip- | ling who remarks somewhere that there are only forty stories in the world, one of which could be told to s lady, and thirty-nine which couldn’t. As the limitations of modern taste pre- vent the publication of the thirty-nine, we have no means of saying whether Kipling is really right. However, looking at the persistency with which the worn out themes of love and Intrigue and mur- der are shown up again and agaln, there would seem to be sense in his dlctum. But leaving plots out of the question, the difficulty of finding a new title 1s really a serious one, because of the copy- right law. The name of a book Is just as much the property of the copyrighter | as any other portion of its contents, and therefore the unfortunate author is In constant danger of trespassing on some one else’s preserves, with possibly a sult for infringement lurking In the back- ground. An additional and even more serious Aifficulty is added, in England at any rate, however it may be in this country. The great circulating libraries, such as Mudle's, positively refuse to place on thelr shelves a book with a once-used name. They will not complicate their cat- alogues by Including two works of the same title, and those who understand the influence these great lbraries have on he success or faflure of a book will sym- pathize with unfortunate authors. Writers of note have frequently com- plained of this grievance, Mr. James Pa in particular, urged authors’ and publishers’ attention to the question years ago. And more recently an anonymous writer in the new critical paper, Liter- ature, has taken the trouble to disinter some remarkable Instances of duplicate titles. One of the most amusing cases, affect- ing authors on both sider of the Atiantic, is that of “The Passlonate Pilgrim.” Shakespeare. who wrote at a time when many things were new, onca gave the world a version of the old, old love story under this title. The romance of sweet Cytherea, sitting by a brook, and young Adonis, lovely, fresh and green, makes quite a long poem, glowing with sensuous imagery. and probably for this reason but little read. Perhaps this accounts for the fact that the last two generations of writers have forgotten Shakespeare's claim to the title. Quite recently Mr. Percy White gave to the world a novel with the title of “A Passlonate Pilgrim.” The book had only been In circulation a few days when it was discovered that twenty years before Mr. Henry James had published a volume of short stories under this name. Mr. White did the proper thing in apol- ogizing to Mr. James for unintentionally poaching on his preserves, but to his sur- prise Mr. James explamed in reply that there was 1o need to worry over the mat- ter, since the title had been already em- ployed severcl years before by Mr. F. T. Palgrave, Thus there are no less than three Passionate Pilgrims going the rounds, to eay nothing of Bhakespeare's peem in the background, This gentleman, Mr. Percy White, 1 sl gl and any number of absurd instances are on record, showing how titles, both Eng- lish and German, have had their mean- ings entirely changed by the exercise of a little Gellic ingenuity. One of the best of these original ren- derings is the translation of Cibber’s com- edy, “Love's Last Shift.”” The play ap- peared in French entitied, “La derntere Chemise de L'Amour.” There are other instances nearly as| startling. Congreve's tragedy, “The | Mourning Bride,” came out as “L'Epouse du Matin.” Even Dickens, whose mean- ing one would think was plain enough, | has not escaped his unconsclous French humor. It is related that when “Our Mutual * under the fitle of “L’Ami Com- wes first published in Paris great expectations were formed by the pub- lishers of its success. But after the first half dozen parts had been published the public Tose en masse and declined to read | further a forelgn author whose writings were full of such palpable absurdities. The whole trouble was due to the ab- | solutely literal manner in which the | | translator had fulfiiled his task. To glve only one instance, A Pea Overcoat” was rendered into French “Un Paletot de Couleur de Puree de Pol: It is not only the English who have suffered at the hands of the French translator. The Germans on occasion have been treated quite as badly. Bou- chette, the blographer of Jacob Boehm, in giving a list of the writer's works came across “Reflections on Isalah Stle- fel.” Now Isalah Stiefel was a theolo- | glan of contemporary fame, but evident- | ly Bouchette had never heard of ,him. Stlefel happens to mean boot In Ger- men, and knowing that the volume was | of a religious character the translator | entitled it, “Reflexions Sur les Bottes d'Esale.” THE LAND OF MANY STORIES. IN THE PERMANENT WAY—By Flora | Annie Steel. The Macmillan Company, | New York. 2 Probably no country in the world af-| fords such an admirable fleld for tha | short-story writer as Indla. The an- tiquity bf its civilization, the variety of | its racial tvpes, the mysticism of Its re- | ligious rites, may all be exploited with | brilliant effect without calling for too much exercise of the author’s imagina- tion. In fact, one of the chief charms of the really good Indian story is that it reads so admirably true. The character- istic is especially marked in all of Kip- ling’s work; no one would ever think that he Invented any of the marvelous Indlan stories he has given us, though he him- self has christened one of his books “Many Inventions.” Probably he did this purposely, knowing well that none would sive him credit for the invention, however | much they might be charmed with the treatment. And following Kipling, though It must | | be confessed, a long way behind, comes | Mrs. Steel, whose acquaintance with the | | esoteric side of Indian life is probably as deep as that possessed by Mulvaney's | chronicler. But though the subject mat- ter may be similar, the difference in style is strongly marked. Kipling, in the terse, vigorous English which he handles with a power all his own, seizes instantly all the rugged picturesque features of an | incldent: he is afraid of nothing, and deals intimately with phases of Hfe which the less gifted writer would be damned for merely touching. Genlus is a law unto itself, and no au- thor has done more to prove the truth of this assertion than Kipling. Wisely enough, Mrs. Steel has chosen a smoother | path. Apart from the fact that she is a JANUARY 23, 1898. around him and leveled up to him, but the holy man declined to move, until at last Craddock, a big yellow-haired Saxon who could never keep off the drink, step- up. “Look here, sonny,” esald Craddock, “you're in the way, the Permanent Way."” So the man of meditations was gently lifted on one side and the work went on. But always the Jog! returned to the ralls, and each time Craddock passed that way he had to step down from the engine and lift Old Meditations, as he called him, to one side before the train could move on. Only in Indla would such a thing be pos- sible. The end came one stormy night, when Craddock got very drunk. The in- spector who was in the cab with him falled to stop the train in time and Crad- dock leaped to his death In the vain at- tempt to save the Jogl. “When a whole train," remarks the Inspector grimly, ‘“‘goes over two men who are locked In each other's arms it s hard, hard to tell, well, which {s which.' Equally tragical, though told in a more mystical veln, is “On the Second Story.” It is one of those thrilling narratives of Indian fanaticism in which Mrs. Steel excels. The victims are an educated na- tive, a schoolmaster and a poor little Hindoo widow. The two conduct a clan- destine love affair before the shrine of terrible Goddess Kall, which the priests abruptly terminate by the awful sacri- fice of the widow on the altar of their deity. “The King's Well,” told by Crad- dock, 18 a strong tale of the mutiny time, and indeed every one of the nineteen stories which go to make up thé book Possesses marked interest. FOR LOVES OLD AND YOUNG. A BOOK OF TRUE LOVERS—By Oc- tave Thanet. Chicago: Wi Wil- lams. Price $1 2. 7 o This is a collection of short stories re- garding “the joys and sorrows, the ad- ventures of divers true lovers,” all of which have appeared at sundry times in the leading magazines of the country. The lovers are not of the puling, youth- ful variety, but men and women who have had some experlence of the world and its hard ways. In many instances they are married couples whose matri- monial careers have extended a full Quarter century. “The Court of Last Resort” is, perhaps, the lightest and most amusing tale In the book, as it sets forth how a lady of color regained her fickle spouse by sheer force of arms. “The Strike at Glasscock’s” shows how a woman always has her way with a man, and in “Why Abbylonfa surrendered,” a graphic picture Is drawn of the woman who knows not true iove when she sees it. All of the stories are well told and are worth reading. Many of them may even prove helpful to numerous unfor- tunate lovers who are discontented with thelr lot in life. THE MARVELOUS EAST. JAVA, THE GARDEN OF THE EAST—By Eliza Rubamah Scldmore. New York: The .Century Company. Price $1 5 Although the name of Java is as fa- miliar throughout the world as the use of coffee, English lite-ature is singularly lacking in books on the subject of this densely populated asd amazingly pro- ductive island. There are a few works on the great coffee and tea growing country, but of books in which the tneme 1s more lightly treated the dearth is re- markable. Miss Scidmore’s “Jinriksha has well demonstrated the au- thor's keenness of observation and vivacity of style, and in her later work, in a fleld less thoroughly tilled tnan EMILE ZOLA. Pmile Zola is sald, by those who have read him, to be a realist of the realists. A Parisian born, he has spent most of the fifty-six years of his life in his own city, and made a great‘reputation in France by publishing books, the saie of which was punished as a crime In other countries. He was educated at the St. Louls College in Parls, and at 25 began to devote himself wholly to writing. His books number over a score. They cover many subjects, and their noted author has been able to be vile in all but one or two. M. Zola delights in odd situations. For instance, two years ago, he wrote a book in which the devotions of plous persons at Lourdes were treated in his usual style. Then he promptly went to Rome and presented himself for an Interview with Pope Leo. It might have been be- cause of the book “Lourdes,” or it might have been because of others; but Leo refused to see him. For many years the author of “Claude” and “Nana" and “La Terre” has been eager to become cme of the immortals of the French Academy, probably because he knew he could not. out of their nostrils, and consistently closed their door to him. “Le Reve.” his The academiclans could not get the smell of M. Zola's famousbooks only pure work., eminently un-Zola- esque, was written to placate the academy, but Louis Marie Julien Viaud was elected in 1891 and Zola is still a mortal. If not a member of the academy, the great realist is at least a Knight of the Legion of Honor, and has been president of the French Society of Men of Letters. His “Rome,” written with the hope that it would pass him into the academy, was the one concerning which a charge of literary theft is made and which created so much talk. “Paris,” the third book of the trilogy, is now virtually completed. selection of his titles. for his first book, written In 1890, bore the name Mr. Balley Martin. At the time he was unaware of the existence of a weli-known American family of almost precisely similar name, and the book, which has heen extensively circulated throughout the United States, is sometimes referred to as Mr. Bradley Martin. Arnother and more amusing Instance of simllarity of names occurred when Mr. Le Galllenne announced his new book, “The Quest of the Golden Girl.” author had ready for publication *“The Quest of the Golden Pearl,” and after a good deal of angry correspondence the two authors agreed to let the public de- cide for itself as to the merits of their closely reiated titles. Perhaps one of the only methods of se- curing absolute originality of title is by translatiop from another language. The this system, Another | ! woman, and therefore hampered by sex difficulties from which men nave long been emancipated, she -robably real- izes that the public would never stand two Kiplings in one generation. She handles her subjects with the gloves on, in a neat, finished, yet at the same time | effective style. i | Like Kipling, Mrs. Steel has her chosen | narrator of strange stories. But his name is not Mulvaney, it is Craddock, and instead of being a soldier he is an engineer. He appears to the best ad- | vantage in the tale which gives its title | to the volume, “In the Permanent Way." | A rallway was being surveyed through ,one of the desert regions of India, when the party found a Jogl, or holy man, right 'ln the track of the line. There the man had been sitting, year in and year out, for who knows how long, and such a little thing as a rallroad track was not going to move him. The constructors dug modern Japan she has lald the reading world under agreeable obliga- tions by playing clcerone to a veritable treasure land of natural and artificial wonders. The book is something more than an entertaining narrative of travel, and contains abunuant evidence of studi- ous research. READINGS FROM THE BARD. THE READER'S SHAKESPEARE—By David Charles Bell. New York: Funk & W 1s Company. Price $1 50. This Is the third and concluding vol- ume of a new edition of Shakespeare, which is likely to prove of especial value udents and teachers alike. The text been carefully condensed, collated and preserved, making allowance for the prime necessities of expurgation and compression. Good judgment has been used In the matter of abridgment, and only such passages are omitted as might be objectionable to people of sensitive tastes or unsuitable for reading In classes. The plays are preceded by a brief narrative, and the principal scenes, not only of the main but of the secondary plots, are connected by elucidatory re- marks. The readings are intended chief- ly for the volce and ear rather than the eve, and this will facilitate the much prized but still neglected art of reading | aloud. Each volume is printed in large and beautiful type, on excellent paper, and is artistically bound in buckram, with covers stamped in pleasing design. FROM THE SEAT OF WAR. GOING TO THE WAR IN GREECE-By Frederick Palmer. New York: R. H.| Russell. | Mr. Frederick Palmer’s interesting book wi'l throw much light on the late Graeco- Turkish war and will help those who are interested in military tactics to form some understanding of the different bat- | tles and their immediate consequences. As & war correspondent Mr. Palmer was continually at the front, and he writes of the happenings there in a graphic and unprejudiced manner. Although the war was largely of a farcical nature, the re- cital of numerous skirmishes powerfully told makes very good reading. Mr. Palmer, moreover, 18 not averse to intro- ducing lighter matter into his story when the same can be used effectively. The descriptions of the country near the seat of war, and of the different types of sol- diery congregated there, is all new ma- terial to people who have had to content themselves with meager or Inaccurate cessful novel seldom capable of turn- {ng out good short stories, and vice versa. STORIES FOR HORSEMEN. ‘WHIP AND SPUR—BYy_George BE. War- ing Jr. New York: Doubledav & Me- Clure. For sale by Payot, Upham & Co. Price $L This is a book of short stories written for lovers of the noble steed by one who understands and has studied horse-char- acter. The author’s story of his first horse, Vix, is told In a bright and charm- ing manner. Vix was rescued from a life | of drudsery in the New York street-car line service and showed. in his later life that he was fitted for better things. Many of the chapters deal with war times, and the colonel’s mounts must indeed have been worth possessing, as thelr intelli- gence appears to have been almost hu- man. The chapter on “Fox Hunting in Engiand” Is one of the most Interesting In the book, as it gives one a good In- sight Into that phase of English country life. The frontispiece is a picture of the colonel taken In war time. THE CHOSEN RACE. A SKETCH OF JEWISH HISTORY—ByY Gustav Karpeles. Fhiladelphia: The Jewish Publication Soclety of America. Considering its brevity a better sketch of Jewish history has never been offered to the public than this by Gustav Kar- peles. It is a succinct narrative of a truly wonderful race, written in a man- ner that is both interesting and instruct- newspaper reports. Few important de-| talls appear to have escaped the writer's eye. The book is profusely {llustrated with photographs taken by the author and, altogether, it forms a valuable con- ' ive. The Jewish people are traced from the awakening of historical consclous- ness to the present day. The author’ style is simple and clear, and he man- ages to condense his facts into a small space in a manner that is truly marvel- Another remnant of Dickens’ Lo “ymprovement.” into the hands of the dealer In seco place that is haunted perhaps with soi the life of Dickens. It was In Furnival's Inn that he was a reporter on the Morning Chro the three on the right on the upper It was to these rooms that Dicke housekeeping expedients on the part “Pickwick Papers,” and a number of in 1837. \n\\w\n\ ISy ¢ / \ Under Three Heads” and “The Strange Gentleman.” three, one being a sitting room, and the others bedrooms, one of which was occupled by the beloved Mary Hogarth. A tablet on the outside of the inn recorded the fact of Dickens having lived there, and the exterior of the building, as shown in the illustration, is precisely the same as it was when Dickens left to go to Doughty street, “)“\mm\\\\l\"\\\\\“m‘“‘““ (e \ A DISAPPEARING RELIC OF DICKENS. No. 15 Furnival’s Inn, London, Where the Novel'st’s Bzst Work Was Done, and Which Is to Be Tcrn Down. ndon is disappearing in the rage for This time it is Furnival's Inn, Holborn, that has fallen nd-hand lumber; and with it goes the me of the most pathetic memories in lived In his bachelor days, when he nicle, in the “three pair back” in No. 13, where he lived from Christmas, 1834, till Christmas, 1835. Then he moved to the “three pair south,” in No. 15, whose windows in the illustration are floor. ns brought his wife, to whom he was married In April, 1836, and where they lived until March of the following year. These are the rooms he describes in “David Copperfleld” as being the home of Tommy Traddles, which were the scenes of such admirable of that most wonderful girl, Sophy. His oldest son was born here on January 6, 1837. The ‘“‘Sketches by Boz” were written here, the earlier number of the his shorter works, -such as “Sunday The rooms numbered tribution to the literature dealing with modern military matters. BY AUTHOR OF ““QUO VADIS.” HANIA—By Henryk Slenklewics. Bos- ton: Little, Brown & Co. Henryk Sienkiewlcz has written a new book containing ten stories, some of which are long and some short, but the ‘workmanship in none of them approaches “Quo Vadis.” “Hania,” the first tale, Is sald to have been founded on actual oc- currences in the author’'s early lifetime. It is the story of a young Polish girl who has two suitors, but catches the small- pox and finally becomes a Sister of Char- ity. The death of her father, an old ser- vant in the Sienkiewlcz famlily, Is made the subject of a prologue. “Tartar Captivity’’ Is a romance sup- posed to have been written by a nobleman in the seventeenth century, and throws some light on the ignorance and supersti- tions prevalling at the time, besides giv- ing one a good idea of how Tartar war- fare was conducted. “Let Us Follow Him" treats of two Ro- man lovers who hover between Chris- tianity and paganism. They finally fol- low the Savior to Jerusalem and witness his death. This story Is neither original in conception nor perfect in execution. “‘Charcoal Sketches treat of certain phases of life in a Polish community and are of value mainly for the light they throw upon this subject. The rest of the stories deal with social life in the author's own country, and although somewhat marred by a thinly velled cynicism which is not always intelligible, appear to be of greater literary value than the others. A careful perusal of the book justifies the statement that the writer of a suc- ous. The book will be of Interest to in- telligent people of all creeds and beliefs. AN EDUCATIONAL WORK. NATURE STUDY—By Mrs. L. L. Wilson. The Macmillan Company. For sale by A. M. Robertson. Price 9 cents. Little attention has hitherto been given to “Nature Study,” but it is now ac- knowledged that this branch of learning should form an important part in the curriculum of our public schools, high schools and colleges. Miss Wilson's book has been written for those who teach rather for those who are taught, and it will undoubtedly prove of great service to a number of teachers who have never taken up this particular line of study. The subjects under consideration are the weather, plants, animals and stones, the course being divided into twelve parts ac- cording to the respective months. As a teacher's manual the book is without an equal. It dwells continually on the neces- sity of observing small things and of in- structing children in little details that are often permitted to pass unnoticed or un- explained. WORDS THAT BURN. THE SMART SET—By Clyde Fitch. Chicago: Herbert S. 8 sale by Doxey. Price st & C0- For Clyde Fitch's “Smart Set” is a clever £atite on American soclety of a certain kind. In a series of letters and conver- sations the author holds our snobs up to the ridicule of Intelligent people in & manner that must strike home. Every page In the little book contains some witty saying at the expense of the aris- tocracy.