BO 0 KS
265
herence in general. But the curious thing is that this seems to have been
s<ti~
more in praise of Faulkner than of Proust, as if the capacity to lose
oneself, to dispense with clear ideas, eloquence, intellectualism and the
other ornaments of the classical French spirit was to Sartre rather
desirable.
And Gide seems to think along similar lines. Gide, it is true, has a
long record as a critic for whom enthusiasm and the passion of appro–
priation predominate over judgment. His readings in foreign literatures
have been an extended
voyage au Congo
from which he is apt to bring
back only what is usable to the French mind. The resulting injustices
and distortions have been many.
If
he embraced Dostoevsky it was only
after fitting him out with a neat and Gidean rationale; if he rejected
Henry James it was because James, being a refined craftsman, had noth–
ing to offer the craft-surfeited French. No wonder that in his recent
Imaginary Interviews
Gide plays fast and loose with the modern Amer–
icans. After saying that some of Steinbeck's stories "equal or surpass the
best tales of Chekhov" he goes on to praise Dashiell Hammett. Somewhat
reluctantly he admits that Hammett "is doubtless not in the same class
as the four great figures we began by discussing [Faulkner, Hemingway,
Caldwell, Steinbeck]," but he adds that "I regard
Red Harvest
as a
remarkable achievement, the last word in atrocity, cynicism and horror."
A person need not be an embattled classicist to wonder at these reasons
for admiring a book.
Gide and Sartre are perhaps only amusing themselves, letting them–
selves go. Perhaps the nation that produced a Proust has earned the
right-that is to say, the irresponsibility-to prefer a Faulkner, and
remains so certain of finding itself in the end that it can afford to dream
of losing itself for the present. But I should guess that the American
vogue indicated not so much a triumph for ourselves as some crisis in
French taste and reason. It would require more knowledge of France
than I possess to say what this crisis might be.
SOCIALISM:
FREEDOM OR DICTATORSHIP?
Revealing, frank analysis of Hayek and
von Mises. 20 cents a copy.
NEW VIEWS, 505 Fifth Ave., N.Y. C . 17
P A R I S
peintres et ecrivains, preface de G . Bauer,
360 pages, 88 ill. 1945. $3.00
Baudelaire, Mallarme, Rimbaud, Cocteau,
Bonnard, C eza nne, Rousseau.
WITTENBORN AND COMPANY
Books on the Fine Arts
38 East 57 Street, N. Y. C. 22
F.
w.
DUPEE
Are you looking for a French book?
You will find it at
Librairie LIPTON
formerly 4 Place
de
I'Odeon
The
mo~t
complete stock of Philosoph_l:.
Poetry, History, Ancient and
Modern Literature
791 LEXINGTON AVE., NEW YORK 21
REgent 7-3860
