Of those books which are "above average" I have tried to say what I thought ought to be said in the volume itself, and there is no need of a "peroration with much circumstance" about them. It is a long way—a perfect maze of long ways leading through the most different countries of thought and feeling—from Atala dying in the wilderness to Chiffon doing exquisitely balanced justice to herself and the Jesuit, by allowing that while he and she were both bien élevés, he was un peu trop and she was not. It is not so far, except in time, nor separated by such a difference of intervening country, from the song of the Mandragore in Nodier to those muffled shrieks of a better-known variety of the same mystic plant, that tell us of Maupassant's growing progress to his fate. As you explore the time and the space of the interval you come across wonderful things. There are the micro- macrocosms of Hugo, where, as in Baudelaire's line on the albatross quoted above, he is partly hampered because he has come down from the air of poetry to the earth of prose; of Balzac, where there is no such difficulty, but where the cosmos itself is something other than yours; of Dumas, where half the actual history of France is disrealised for your delectation. On a lesser scale you have the manners of town and country, of high life and low life, of Paris most of all, given you through all sorts of perspectives and in all sorts of settings by Paul de Kock and George Sand, by Sandeau and Bernard, by Alexandre Dumas fils and Feuillet, by Theuriet and Fabre. Gautier and Mérimée make for you that marriage of story and style which, before them, so few had attempted at all, yet which, since them, so many have tried with such doubtful success. Once more in Flaubert and then for the last time, as far as our survey goes, in Maupassant, you come to that touch of genius which exalts the novel, as it exalts all kinds, indefinably, unmistakably, finally.
And this journey is not like the one great journey, and more than one of the lesser journeys, of our life, irremeable; there is no denial, no curse, no fiend with outstretched claw, to prevent your going back as often as you like, wandering in any direction you please, passing or staying as and where you wish. It has been perhaps unconscionable of me to inflict so big a book on my readers as a cover for giving myself the pleasure of making and remaking such journeys. But if I have persuaded any one of them to explore the country for himself, by him at least I shall not remain unforgiven.
FOOTNOTES:
[558] V. sup. "The French Novel in 1850."
[559] Called by some a "deadening" one. There was some very cheerful Life in that Death.
[560] The better part even of M. Ohnet is a sort of vulgarised Sandeau.
[561] La Tentation, like others of the very greatest novels, is independent of its time, save in mere unimportant "colour."
[562] How little this change was one back to classicism—as some would have it—we may see presently.
[563] The greatest of all—the direction and maintenance of the revolution under the inspiration of what is called Romance—must be again postponed for a little while.
[564] Of course the convulsions of '48 were ominous enough, but they seemed to be everywhere repressed or placated for a considerable time; and if there had been a single statesman of genius besides Herr von Bismarck (I anticipate but decline the suggestion of Cavour) in the Europe of the next two decades, they might not have broken out again for a much longer time than was actually the case.
[565] Nearly—but fortunately for literature—not quite. The jobbery and the tyranny which are inseparable from democracy in politics find room with difficulty in our "Republic."
[566] I am prepared for blame on account of some of the absences of mention. Perhaps the most provoking, to some readers, will be those affecting two industrious members of the aristocracy: Mme. la Comtesse Dash—more beautifully and properly though less exaltedly, Gabrelli Anna Cisterne de Courtiras, Vicomtesse de Saint-Mars—and M. le Comte Xavier de Montépin. They overlapped each other in pouring forth, from the 'forties to the 'nineties, torrents of mostly sensational fiction. But I had rather read them than write about them.
[567] In the same place another novelist, M. Amédée de Bast, of whom I again acknowledge ignorance, advertises no less than four novels of four volumes each, as being actually all at press, pour paraître à diverses époques. Dryden says somewhere "in epoches mistakes." Let us hope there were none here.
APPENDIX
DATES OF PUBLICATION OF NOVELS ARRANGED UNDER AUTHOR'S NAMES IN THE ORDER OF NOTICE HERE
(These dates are given subject to the caution stated under Addenda and Corrigenda for Vol. I., p. xvii of this present volume. It has not been thought necessary to add editions, etc., as was done in Vol. I.: almost all the books referred to being in common sale. For dates of the authors themselves, see Index as before. Those of some books merely glanced at are excluded to save room.)
Staël, Mme. de. Delphine, 1802; Corinne, 1807.
Chateaubriand. Atala, 1801, in the Mercure; René, 1802, in Génie du Christianisme, 1805; Le Dernier Abencérage, 1805; Les Martyrs, 1809; Les Natchez in Œuvres Complètes, 1826-31.
Paul de Kock. L'Enfant de ma Femme, 1812; Gustave, 1821; La Femme, le Mari et l'Amant, 1829; Edmond et sa Cousine, 1843; André le Savoyard, 1825; Jean, 1828. Mon Voisin Raymond; 1822; Le Barbier de Paris, 1826.
Ducray-Duminil. Fanfan et Lolotte, 1787; Le Petit Carillonneur, 1809.
Ducange, V. L'Artiste et la Soldat, 1827; Ludovica, 1830.
Montolieu, Mme. de. Caroline de Lichtfield, 1786.
Ricard, A. L'Ouvreuse de Loges, 1829-32.
Arlincourt, Vicomte d'. Le Solitaire, 1821.
Nodier, Charles. Les Proscrits, Le Peintre de Salzbourg, etc., 1802-6; Jean Sbogar, 1818; Smarra, 1821; Trilby, 1822; La Fée aux Miettes, 1831.
Hugo, Victor. Han d'Islande, 1823; Bug-Jargal, 1824-26; Notre Dame de Paris, 1830; Les Misérables, 1862; Les Travailleurs de la Mer, 1866; L'Homme qui Rit, 1869; Quatre-Vingt-Treize, 1873.
Beyle, Henri. Armance, 1827; Le Rouge et le Noir, 1830; La Chartreuse de Parme, 1839; L'Abbesse de Castro, 1832. First set of posthumous Nouvelles, etc., 1854 onwards; second ditto (Lamiel, etc.), 1887 onwards.
Balzac, H. de. Most of the Juvenilia were written, alone or in collaboration, during the years 1821, 1822, 1823, and 1824, but the period of the whole extends to that of Les Chouans (originally Le Dernier Chouan), 1829. The dates of the rest, especially considering their frequent rearrangement, are too numerous to give. Those chiefly commented on in text appeared as follows: Le Peau de Chagrin, 1831; Eugénie Grandet, 1833; Le Père Goriot, 1834; Les Parents Pauvres, 1846-47.
Sand, George. Indiana, 1832; Valentine, 1832; Lélia, 1833; Consuelo, 1842-43; La Comtesse de Rudolstadt, 1844-45; Lucrezia Floriani, 1847; Elle et Lui, 1859; Un Hiver à Majorque, 1842; La Mare au Diable, 1846; La Petite Fadette, 1840; F. le Champi, 1849; Mauprat, 1837; La Daniella, 1857; Les Beaux Messieurs de Bois-Doré, 1858; Le Marquis de Villemer, 1861; Mlle. la Quintinie, 1863; Flamarande, 1875.
Gautier, Théophile. Les Jeune-France, 1833; Mlle. de Maupin, 1835; Fortunio, 1838; Nouvelles, 1845; Jettatura, 1857; Le Capitaine Fracasse, 1863; Spirite, 1866.
Mérimée, Prosper. (Clara Gazul, 1825; La Guzla, 1827; Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement, part of Clara Gazul originally, did not reach the stage till 1850.) La Jacquerie, 1828; Chronique de Charles IX, 1829. Most of the stories, including Colomba, appeared between 1830 and 1840. Carmen, 1847; Dernières Nouvelles, 1873.
Musset, A. de. Most of the stories noticed in text appeared originally after 1840 in the Revue des Deux Mondes, and were not collected till after his death in 1857. Mimi Pinson had been published in 1852.
Gérard de Nerval. Work noticed appeared sporadically, in many papers and some books, between 1828 and his death in 1855. The best edition of the Œuvres Complètes is of 1868.
Vigny, A. de. Cinq-Mars, 1826; Stello, 1832; Servitude et Grandeur Militaires, 1835.
Fromentin, Eugène. Dominique, 1863.
Sainte-Beuve, C. A. Volupté, 1834.
Bernard, Ch. de. Gerfaut, 1838; Le Nœud Gordien, 1838; Le Paravent, 1839. The rest between 1840 and his death in 1850.
Sandeau, Jules. Marianna, 1839; Fernand, 1844; Valcreuse, 1846; La Roche aux Mouettes, 1871; Mlle. de La Seiglière, 1851; Sacs et Parchemins, 1851; Mlle. de Kérouare, 1842; La Maison de Penarvon, 1858.
Sue, Eugène. Le Coucaratcha, 1832-34; La Vigie de Koatven, 1833; Les Mystères de Paris, 1842-43; Le Juif Errant, 1844-45; Les Sept Péchés Capitaux, 1847-49.
Soulié, Frédéric. Mémoires du Diable, 1837-38; Le Lion Amoureux, 1839; Le Château des Pyrénées, 1843.
Murger, Henri. [Scènes de] La Vie de Bohême, 1851; Les Buveurs d'Eau, 1855; Adeline Protat, 1853; Le Sabot Rouge, 1860. (Shorter stories at different dates between 1848 (?) and his death in 1861.)
Reybaud, Louis. Jérome Paturot, Part I., 1843; Jérome Paturot, Part II., 1848.
Méry, Joseph. Les Nuits Anglaises, 1853.
Karr, Alphonse. Sous les Tilleuls, 1832.
Beauvoir, Roger de. Stories mostly, 1832-53.
Ourliac, Édouard. Stories mostly, 1835-48.
Achard, Amédée. Belle-Rose, 1847.
Souvestre, Émile. Les Derniers Bretons, 1835-37; Le Foyer Breton, 1844; Un Philosophe sous les Toits, 1850.
Féval, Paul. La Fée des Grèves, 1851.
Borel, Pétrus. Champavert, 1833; Madame Putiphar, 1839.
Dumas père. Isabeau? [-bel? -belle?] de Bavière, 1835; Le Comte de Monte Cristo, 1844-45; Les Trois Mousquetaires, 1844; Vingt Ans Après, 1845; La Reine Margot, 1845; Le Vicomte de Bragelonne, 1848-50.
The sequels of La Reine Margot and the major part of the eighteenth-century series appeared between 1846 and 1850; Olympe de Clèves in 1852; Les Louves de Machecoul in 1859. Little of real value in novel later. The period of chief attack on him for plagiarism, supercherie, "novel-manufacture," etc., was 1845-48.
Dumas fils. Tristan le Roux, 1850; La Dame aux Camélias, 1848; Antonine, 1849; La Vie à Vingt Ans, 1854; Aventures de Quatre Femmes et d'un Perroquet, 1846-47; Trois Hommes Forts, 1851; Diane de Lys, 1853; Affaire Clémenceau, 1866; Ilka, 1895.
Janin, Jules. L'Âne Mort et la Femme Guillotinée, 1829; Barnave, 1831.
Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary, 1857; Salammbô, 1862; L'Éducation Sentimentale, 1869; La Tentation de Saint-Antoine, 1848-74; Trois Contes, 1877; Bouvard et Pécuchet, 1881.
Feuillet, Octave. Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre, 1858; M. de Camors, 1867; La Petite Comtesse, 1857; Julia de Trécœur, 1872; Honneur d'Artiste, 1890; La Morte, 1886.
Daudet, Alphonse. Le Petit Chose, 1868; Robert Helmont, 1876; Lettres de Mon Moulin, 1869; Jack, 1862; Tartarin de Tarascon, 1872; Le Nabob, 1877; Les Rois en Exil, 1879; Numa Roumestan, 1890; L'Évangéliste, 1883; Sapho, 1884; L'Immortel, 1888.
About, Edmond. Le Roi des Montagnes, 1856; Tolla, 1855; Germaine, 1867; Madelon, 1863; Maître Pierre, 1858.
Ponson du Terrail, Pierre A. Rocambole, 1859; Les Gandins, 1861.
Gaboriau, Émile. L'Affaire Lerouge, 1866.
Feydeau, Ernest. Fanny, 1858; Sylvie, 1861; Daniel, 1859.
Droz, Gustave. Monsieur, Madame et Bébé, 1866; Entre Nous, 1867.
Cherbuliez, Victor. Le Comte Kostia, 1863; Le Roman d'une Honnête Femme, 1867; Meta Holdenis, 1873; Miss Rovel, 1875; Samuel Brohl et Cie, 1877; Olivier Maugant, 1885.
Barbey d'Aurevilly, Jules. Les Diaboliques, 1874; L'Ensorcelée, 1854; Un Prête Marié, 1865.
Cladel, Léon. Les Va-nu-pieds, 1873; Crête-Rouge, 1880; La Fête Votive de Saint-Bartholomée Porte-Glaive, 1872.
Champfleury. Les Excentriques, 1852; Madame Eugénio, 1874.
Goncourt, E. and J. Dates in text: from 1860 to 1870.
---- E. only. Chérie, 1884.
Zola, É. Contes à Ninon, 1864; L'Attaque du Moulin, 1880; The Rougon-Macquart books, 1871-93; "Les Trois Villes," 1894-98; "Les Quatre Évangiles," 1890-1903.
Maupassant, Guy de. Boule de Suif, 1880; La Maison Tellier, 1881; Bel-Ami, 1885; Une Vie, 1883; Pierre et Jean, 1888; Fort comme la Mort, 1889; Notre Cœur, 1890. Smaller Tales, 1880-93, and posthumously.
Huysmans, J. K. Contribution to Les Soirées de Médan, 1880; Les Sœurs Vatard, 1879; Là-Bas, 1891; À Rebours, 1884.
Belot, Adolphe. Mlle. Giraud ma Femme, 1870; La Femme de Feu, 1872.
Fabre, Ferdinand. L'Abbé Tigrane, 1873; Norine, 1889; Le Marquis de Pierrerue, 1874; Mon Oncle Célestin, 1881; Lucifer, 1884; Taillevent, 1894; Toussaint Galabru, 1887.
Theuriet, André. Sauvageonne, 1881; Raymonde, 1877; Le Fils Maugars, 1879.
Ohnet, Georges. Serge Panine, 1881; Le Maître de Forges, 1882; Le Docteur Rameau, 1888; La Grande Marnière, 1885.
Rod, Édouard. La Course à la Mort, 1885; Le Sens de la Vie, 1889; La Vie Privée de Michel Teissier, 1893 (2nd part, 1894); La Sacrifiée, 1892; Le Silence, 1894; Là-Haut, 1897; L'Eau Courante, 1902.
Mendès, Catulle. Lesbia, 1886.
(In a not inconsiderable number of cases a difference of one year will be found, from the dates as given in some reference books. This, which renews the elder trouble of "Old" and "New" Style, arises, probably, if not certainly, from the fact of the book having appeared late in autumn or early in spring, with a title-page, anticipatory or retrospective, as the case may be. The same thing occurs, of course, with English books; but not, I think, so often. French books, moreover, unless I am mistaken, not infrequently appear with no date on title-page.)
INDEX
(This Index has been constructed on the same principles as that of Vol. I. But the full names, birth- and death-dates, titles, etc., of authors included in the former Index are not repeated here.)