by Serge Persky
IX
WRITERS IN VOGUE
As we have already noted in the first chapter of this book, Russianliterature from 1830 to 1905 is distinctly different from Europeanliterature: it is, above all, a literature of action and socialpropagandas which puts the popular cause in the place of prominence.
This cause has been abandoned by several writers during the lastfew years. From 1905 to 1910, an evolution, accelerated by themost audacious hopes and the most lively beliefs, has transformedthe story and the novel, and has brought to the front certainauthors who, up to this time, had scarcely been known. It seemsas if suddenly the ancient tradition of Russian literature hadbeen broken. Contrary to the rule of their predecessors, whosethoughts were on justice and liberty, and whose works breatheforth a wholesome quality, a large number of the present writershave been gradually attracted by metaphysical questions, whichfill their works with a veritable chaos of morbid conceptions anddisenchantment. Some express with acuteness man's unconquerablefear of life or death; others treat of the divine or satanicprinciples in man; still others study, with a sickly passion, theproblems of the flesh in all of its manifestations.[18]
[18] Happily, this literary crisis seems to have been ephemeral. Since the beginning of 1910, according to a Russian critic, "the salubrity of the atmosphere" has been accomplished. The "cursed questions" are less prominent in recent works, and it seems that the crisis which desolated Russian literature for several years has come to an end, and that the writers are going back to the old traditions of Russian literature.
Among the latter, Michael Artzybashev is a writer of great breadth,whose erotic tendencies have spoiled some of his best traits. Hisnovel, "Sanine," which recently caused so much talk, pretends topaint the youth of to-day in Russia. If we believed the author, weshould conclude that the above-mentioned youth consisted ofhysterical people in whom chastity was the least of virtues.
The heroes of his novel are two representatives of the revolutionaryyouth, Sanine and Yuri Svagorich. Both of them have deserted "thecause," Sanine, through lassitude, and Yuri, who has met nothing buta despairing indifference among those whom he wanted to save from"the oppression of the shadows," through scorn. Yuri, "a man of thepast," is an "intellectual" entirely impregnated with generousaltruism, haunted by social and political preoccupations. But he isalso a "failure" who falls from one deception into another, becausehe is thoroughly powerless to combat life.
On the other hand, his friend, Vladimir Sanine, "the man of thefuture," is, without a doubt, capable of living. None is freer thanhe from all social and political preoccupations, and none is morethan he resolved to obey only his lucid egotism, or the suggestionsof his instincts.
These two young fellows meet, one summer, in the country. Yuri liveswith his father, a retired colonel; Sanine, with his mother.Sanine's sister, Lida, is in love with the officer Zaroudine, whoabandons her later when she is with child. Lida wants to commitsuicide, but Sanine stops her and proposes that she marry Dr.Novikov, who has been in love with her for a long time. Parallel tothe history of Lida, the life story of Karsavina is presented. Yurifalls in love with this young and pretty school-teacher. But,although she returns Yuri's love, the young girl, in a moment ofpassion, gives herself to Sanine, whom she does not love. Disgustedwith life, feeling himself weak, neurasthenic, and sick, Yuri, onlytwenty-six years of age, commits suicide. Karsavina, terriblyaffected by this act of despair, leaves Sanine. And the latter,after Yuri's funeral, disappears from the city....
All the characters in the book, from Sanine to Karsavina, arecontinually preyed upon by carnal desires. Long passages of funerealscenes alternate with pictures of the transports of love and thedescriptions of masculine and feminine bodies. "Your body proclaimsthe truth, your reason lies." This is the "leitmotiv" of all thetheories that the characters in the book preach.
Let us hasten to add to the praise of the Russian public, that theenormous success of "Sanine" was not justified by the extremelicentiousness of the book, but by the eloquence with which theauthor claims the right of free love for man and woman.
Although its success was less than that of "Sanine," Artzybashev'ssecond novel, "Morning Shadows," is more interesting and is morerealistic than his first.
Tired of their sometimes happy, sometimes monotonous existence, twoyoung people from the provinces, Lisa and Dora, go to St. Petersburgto take some courses there and to join the revolutionary movement.They have read Nietzsche, and want to "live dangerously." In orderto realize this project, Lisa has not hesitated to break off herengagement with the charming and naive Lieutenant Savinov. However,their existence in the capital is nothing but a long and bitterdeception: Dora's literary ambitions disappointed! the love of Lisa,who has given herself to the student Korenyev, disappointed! In afit of despair Lisa kills herself, and her friend, who has not hadthe courage to follow her example, falls victim to a terroristoutrage which the author describes with rare power.
In his recent novel, "Before Expiration,"--which recalls "Sanine" toour minds again,--Artzybashev has found some ingenious variations onthe old theme, "love and death." The story of the love affairs ofthe painter Mikhailov, a cynical and brutal Lovelace who abandonshis mistresses when they are with child, is intermingled incessantlywith gloomy episodes, such as the agonies of an old man or of achild. It is a book for "blase" people, a book which a reader withmoral health will not read without a certain feeling of uneasiness.
We are also indebted to Artzybashev for a series of highly coloredstories. "Sub-Lieutenant Golobov," "Blood," "The WorkingmanShevshrev," and "The Millions" are some of the most remarkable.
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Like Artzybashev, but with less talent, Anatol Kamensky has writtenlittle stories happily enough conceived. Thus, "Laida"--the story ofa worldly woman so taken up with liberty that she exhibits herselfnude before her husband's guests. Another story called "Four," tellsof four women taken from the most diverse social classes, rangingfrom a young school-girl to the wife of a clergyman, who givethemselves to an officer at the end of a trip of twenty-four hours.Then there is also the story of a woman who proposes to an unknownman that he should play a game of cards with her companions, shebeing the prize. This story is called "The Game." Finally, there isthe story of a young man whose agreeable profession consists inliving among others gratuitously and in seducing women under theeyes of their husbands.
These stories are sadly spoiled by a crude philosophy and by"anarchistic" protestations against present values.
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Certain authors wander into far-away countries for their subjects:to Sodom and Lesbos. The best known is Michael Kouzmine. Thiswriter, who happily began with stories of the Orient in the MiddleAges, has now acquired a rather sad renown for himself with hisstory called "The Wings," which appeared at the end of 1906. Thescandalous success which this book won, encouraged the author to goon in the same manner. In poor verse, and especially in the story,"The Castle of Cards," Kouzmine has exalted the sin of Sodom asbeing the most supreme form of aesthetic emotions.
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Closely related to these writers, although surpassing them all inoriginal talent, Feodor Sologoub is the most intellectual and subtleof the Russian modernists. His principal work consists in depictingthe small provincial towns. His heroes are little bourgeois pettyofficials, school-teachers, and country proprietors.
This chanter of birth and death, disgusted by the banality ofexistence, has given us, under the title, "The Little Demon," apathetic picture of human baseness and sordidness, which cannot beread without emotion.
The atmosphere of an arbitrary regime engenders almost always"demonomania." The insecurity of life, and the consecutiveinjustices in the cavils of the police administration, develop insociety a reciprocal fear and distrust. From feeling themselves indanger of being denounced and menaced in their liberty, men rapidlybecome the prey of terror. And the terrible life, s
ooner or later,awakens demoniacal terror among the weak. But people of this sortare legion in Russia, and Peredonov, the hero of "The Little Demon,"represents this class so graphically that to-day Russian historiansand authors designate the era from 1880 to 1905 by the name"peredonovchina." The following is a brief outline of the story:
Peredonov is a school-teacher in a provincial town. His fondestdream is to be nominated primary inspector. He lives with hismistress, the old dressmaker, Varvara by name. One of his mistress'sclients, a virtuous and philanthropic princess, makes himunderstand, one day, that she will have him nominated if he marriesVarvara. Peredonov does not love his mistress; he simply lives withher from habit and because she bears, without complaining too much,his coarseness, his cavilling, and his bad humor. However, he willmarry her if the princess can get him the position he desires. Butwill the princess keep her word? It is some time since she has letherself be heard from. What is to be done?
"Marry," says his friend Routilov to him, when he is told thecondition of things. "I have three sisters," he continues. "Choosethe one you like best and marry her immediately. Thus Varvara willknow nothing and cannot throw any obstacles in the way."
"Done!" cries Peredonov, who has known the three sisters for a longtime. He chooses the youngest, Valerie.
"Go and tell her about it. I will wait for you in the hall and thenwe'll go to the priest's together."
Alone, Peredonov again muses: "Doubtless, Valerie is pretty and Ishall be happy to have her as my wife. But she is young,pretentious; she will demand lots of new clothes, she will want togo out a lot, in fact, so much that I'll not be able to lay anythingaside. Moreover, she'll not look after the kitchen, I'll have poorfood, and the cook will rob us." Anguish seizes him. He knocks atthe window, calls his friend, and says:
"I've changed my mind."
"Ah!" exclaimed the other, horrified.
"Yes, I have reflected, and I have decided that I prefer the second,Lyoudmila."
Lyoudmila consents, for, besides his personal fortune, Peredonovoccupies an enviable position, and the sisters are poor. Shehurriedly gets dressed; in a quarter of an hour she will be ready toaccompany him to the priest's.
However, Peredonov reflects: "Lyoudmila is pretty and plump; shedoubtless has a perfect body, but she is always jolly, she loves tolaugh. She will laugh incessantly and will make her husband seemridiculous." Full of fear, he knocks at the window: "I havereflected," he cries. "I prefer the oldest, Darya."
"What an awful man!" cries his friend. "Hurry up, Darya, or he'llleave all of us in the lurch."
Again Peredonov reflects: "Darya is nice, not young any more, andeconomical; she knows life. But ... she is decisive in herresolutions, and she has an energetic character. She is not the kindwho would listen to my observations. She could make life hard forme, and use me ill. Frankly, do I have to marry any of the threesisters? What will the princess say when she hears of my marriage?And my position as inspector? How stupid it is to stand waiting inthis court! Without a doubt, Routilov ensnared me. I've got to getout of this at any cost!"
He spits on all sides to conjure up the spirits, then knocks at thewindow, and tells the amazed family:
"I am going away.... I have thought it over. I don't want to getmarried."
Meanwhile, his position in school becomes intolerable; complaintsare registered against him; he is reproached with having ill-treatedand even with having beaten the poor children, and with treating thenoble and rich children with too much respect. His ridiculous andevil passions cause him to be detested by all. Luckily, he will soonbe nominated inspector, and then he will say good-bye to all thisriff-raff. In the meantime, Varvara writes a letter, filled with themost alluring promises, to which she signs the princess's name, andhas it mailed from St. Petersburg. Peredonov is at the height ofjoy; but, being a prudent man, he does not want to marry before hehas received the nomination. He waits and waits for it, and,meanwhile, he is not even sure of his position in the school. Hediscovers enemies everywhere, and believes there are always spies athis heels. In order to cajole the administration, he begins tofrequent the church, and to pay visits to the city authorities. Heassures the chief of police of his respect, and, in order to give aglaring proof of his devotion to the established institutions, helodges information against a school-mistress of the locality. Butstill the nomination does not come, and he lives in a continualtrance. The evil in him increases. He torments beasts and humanbeings. He whips his pupils, throws nettles at his cat, andmaltreats his cook. He believes himself more and more in the powerof the demon, and terrible visions follow him:
"He saw running before him, a little, grey, noisy beast. It sneered,its head trembled, and it ran quickly around Peredonov. When hewanted to seize it, it escaped under the cupboard, only to reappeara moment later...."
This strange book, written with rare perfection, had a greatsuccess. To several readers who thought that they recognized theauthor himself in the person of Peredonov (Sologoub had had the sameposition as his hero for several years) the author replied in thepreface of a recent edition, by these malicious lines:
"Men like to be loved. They adore noble and elevated descriptionsand portrayals. They even search among the scum for a 'divinespark.' They also are surprised and offended when any one offersthem a veracious and sombre picture. And most of them then do notfail to declare: 'The author has described himself in his work.'But no, my dear friends and readers, it is you, and only you, whom Ihave painted in my book, 'The Little Demon.'"
In "The Charms of Navii" Sologoub happily blends fantasy andreality. Revolutionary meetings alternate with improbable hypnoticseances, and terrible corteges of corpses contrast violently withscenes of platonic and ethereal love.
The plot of the story, "The Old Home," is not less distressing thanthe preceding one. A young revolutionary, condemned to death bycourt-martial, has been executed, but for his dear ones this deathhas never been a reality. His mother and sister, and even the oldservant, have not the strength to admit his disappearance. They waitand wait for his return until their own death carries them off.
Another story, "The Crowd," shows us a "fair" at which pewtergoblets are being given away. These so excite the greediness of thecrowd that a fray results, in which three children are seriouslywounded. While dying, the unfortunates have terrible visions of lifeand humanity. "It seemed to them that ferocious demons werechuckling and sneering silently behind human faces. And thismasquerade lasted so long that the poor little tots thought that itwould never end...."
Sologoub is, above all, a chanter of death. Almost all of his worksunveil a murder, suicide, or madness. Moreover, the author, whoshows only the injustices, evils, and infamy of life, and whoaffirms that the only happiness that he foresees for man is thepossibility of "creating for himself a chimera" by turning away fromreality, finds the clearest colors and the sweetest expressions inspeaking of death.
"There is not a surer and more tender friend on earth than death,"says one of his heroes. "And if men fear the name of death, it isbecause they do not know that it is the real life, eternal andinvariable. Life deceives very often, death never. It is sweet tothink of death, as it is to think of a dear friend, distant and yetalways close at hand.... One forgets all in the arms of theconsoling angel, the angel of death."
The ever supremely correct and beautiful language of Sologoub showsthe power of a master, and it is most regrettable that an artist ofhis merit should confine himself to so morbid an art.
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These then are the principal authors--some of whom have enjoyed animmense popularity--who treat the "cursed questions:" the rights ofthe flesh, the problem of death, and other equally "cursed"problems.
The other writers are principally occupied with social questions,and, without rigorously following in the steps of theirpredecessors, remain, however, most of the time, realists.
Among these, Sergyev-Tzensky occupies a prominent place. The storiesof this writer show us be
ings who seem strangers to what is going onaround them. This peculiarity comes from the fact that Tzensky doesnot understand the physical facts in the same way that thenaturalists do. For him, they are the manifestations of the will ofa supernatural entity, incomprehensible, inconceivable, and, at thesame time, clearly hostile to man.
His story, "The Sadness of the Fields," testifies to this singularconception. A farmer and his wife, good and peaceful people, havefor many years wished for a child. Up to this time, the six childrenwhich the mother has given birth to have died in their infancy. Theyare anxiously awaiting the seventh. Will this one live? Will not thesadness of the fields, which puts its imprint on everything, kill itas it has killed the others? Alas! the child is not viable, and themother dies in child-birth. They are buried, and "the fields and thesurrounding country forever keep their powerful and mysteriousmelancholy."
"The Fluctuation" is one of the most curious and beautiful of all ofTzensky's stories. Anton Antonovich, a rich and enterprisingmerchant, of a very violent and unruly character, lives like a wolfin his domains, alone with his family, without seeing any of hisneighbors. The peasants detest him. As his partners and helpers, healways engages nonentities, without power of initiative, who blindlyfollow his orders. Intellectual and energetic men cannot get alongwith him. Men, beasts, and nature in its entirety, are considered bythis man as having been especially created for his service. The oneend of his life is wealth and power. The only beings he loves arehis wife and his three sons; but even they have to bow down to hiswill.
One day, he buys some straw and insures it against fire. Sometimelater, it burns. They accuse him of having been the incendiary.Ridiculous accusation! He is a millionaire and the straw barely costa few hundred rubles. The old man makes fun of the whole affair; heinsults the judge, his own lawyer, and even the jury. He feels theimpending misfortune, but his inborn violence carries him away fromprudence. He is condemned to hard labor and he succumbs to asickness that he has been feeling coming on for a long time. He hadmade a pillager's nest for himself, and he died like a pillager,abandoned even by those who were dear to him.
In Tzensky's short stories, "I Shall Soon Die," "Diphtheria,""Tedium," and "The Masks," there is something mysterious, fatal, andterrible that constantly surrounds his people. As to his longerworks, "The Swamp in the Forest," and "Lieutenant Babayev," theyplunge the reader into the mad chaos of the often abnormal emotionsfelt by the characters. These characters imagine the divine side ofhuman nature; they consider it as having existed before in theessence of things, but the reality does not harmonize with theirdream. The authentication of this discord torments Tzensky's heroesand their souls protest passionately, but in vain, against theseoutrages.
Sergyev-Tzensky's style, graphic and pure, often strange, has foundimitators among the younger writers. Thus, Mouyzhel, who describesvillage life, is visibly influenced by his writings. According tohim, the soul goes through life without understanding it, withoutbeing able to ascribe any meaning to it. And he is so sincere, thathis works obtain the frankest sort of success.
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While Mouyzhel studies peasant life, Simon Youshkevich, to theexclusion of all else, makes a study of the poor Russian Jews. Someof his stories have produced an overwhelming impression. They showus beings, heaped up, pell-mell in the ghettos of the cities ofwestern and southern Russia, dirty and unwholesome ghettos, whereconsumption and all kinds of terrible sickness reign. These stories,often tragic, always sad, have given Youshkevich the name of"chanter of human suffering."
In his earlier works--the best of which are "The Jews,""Tavern-Keeper Heimann," "The Innocents," "The Prologue" and "TheAssassin"--he devoted himself to portraying, not isolated persons,but the immense Russian Jewish proletariat, with its sad past, itsbloody present, and its exalted faith in the future. Youshkevich hascreated this sphere; he considers the poor people of the cities notas a social class, but as a symbolic representation of an entireorganization. If his work is at times infected with romanticism andsome exaggeration the reader will gladly forget these imperfectionswhen he recognizes the fact that they are necessary to enable thisauthor to express the truth. What makes this writer unique, is thathe cannot be confounded with any one else. He has never influencedany of his readers and, in turn, has never imitated any one. He madehimself what he is.
His last literary productions--with the exception of his verytouching drama, "Misere"--have been inferior to his former work.But the abundance of the materials furnished by Jewish life wouldstill give this author opportunity to give us more of themagnificently colored pictures that he gave us in his initialproductions.
Close to Youshkevich should be placed the two young writers, SholomAsh and Izemann. Sholom Ash has principally depicted the Jewishworld and its psychology. "The God of Vengeance" is a touchingpicture of the life of young Jewish girls who have been obliged toprostitute themselves for a living. "Sabbatai-Zevi,"[19] aphilosophical poem, treats of the powerful personality of thatJewish prophet and of the surroundings in which he passed his life.
[19] A famous impostor of the 17th century: 1626-1676.
Izemann, who has written quite a few tales and stories, is a veryuneven author. His best work is "The Thorn Bush," a drama of thelife of the Russian-Jewish revolutionists. Manousse, the son of apoor tinsmith, has been arrested, and then hanged for having takenpart in a terrorist uprising. His sister, Dara, engaged to the sonof a wealthy manufacturer, has, in her turn, been killed at abarricade. She is carried back to her home, and there, revolver inhand, the mother receives the soldiers. She falls mortally woundedat the side of her fourteen year old son. Thus, the entire familyperishes. The last act of this sombre drama makes a tremendousimpression on the stage.
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After having been a country doctor for several years, EugeneChirikov abandoned his practice in order to devote himself toliterature. His drama, "The Jews," has aroused great interest andhas been played with great success both in Russia and abroad. It isone of the most significant works of this writer. The story concernsitself with the children of a poor Jewish watchmaker, who areinfatuated with ideas of progress. Their infatuation is such, thatthe daughter becomes engaged to a Gentile. A delirious mob invadesthe houses of the Jews. The store of the poor watchmaker is notspared, and the fiancee of the Gentile is ravished and thenmurdered. The rapid action of the play makes it a dramatic "slice oflife."
The other plays and stories of this author give us pictures both ofthe petty "bourgeois" and of the "intellectuals." Thus, "TheStrangers" tells the story of a group of "intellectuals" who havestrayed into a small market town in the provinces where all arehostile to them. Then there is "The Invalids," which gives the storyof the life of an old man who, after having been exiled to Siberiafor several years on account of "advanced" ideas, returns to Russiaas confident as ever, ready to consecrate the rest of his life tothe people. Finally, "At the Bottom of the Court," "The Mysteries ofthe Forest" and "Marya Ivanovna" are dramas from bourgeois life,while "The Sorceress" is a play, taken from a national epic.
Not less well known than Chirikov, is Ossip Dymov. He forsook the"Imperial Institute of Foresters" in order to devote himself toliterature. He has written numerous stories, among which "Vlass" isthe most captivating. It is the childhood of Vlass told by himself.An observing little person, the child notices everything andeverybody around him. His father had killed himself before the childwas old enough to talk, and his mother, a very intelligent and sternwoman, alone had to care for four children. Vlass has an olderbrother, Yuri, a sister, Olya, and a younger brother, Vladimir, akind and inoffensive creature. Life runs along smoothly in thelittle country town. The days pass, one like the other, and the mostinsignificant event takes on grave importance in this monotonouslife. One night, Vlass's young teacher is arrested and sent toSiberia. A year later, a friend of the family, who has been in exilea long time, comes back secretly and passes several days at thehouse. Later on, it i
s "the beautiful, good aunt" who comesunexpectedly; but she soon departs, leaving a mass of confused andrestless thoughts in the child's mind. Vlass ends his story with amost pathetic account. Far away from the little town, in one of theprisons of St. Petersburg, they are going to hang Yuri. The entirefamily has broken down since they have heard the news, and they situp the night before the execution, trying, in thought, to alleviatethe torment of their cherished one.
In his other stories, the author paints nature in an original andentirely personal manner. According to a Russian critic, the worksof Dymov breathe forth "the fresh breeze and the quickening aroma ofthe forests."
Dymov has also written some very well-liked plays, of which "Niyu"is the most original. Niyu, a young woman, abandons her husband andchild in order to follow a poet, whose beautiful language andtouching poetry have won her admiration and brought her under hisspell. She hopes that her lover will create a new world, a higherand nobler world than the every-day one, because he is a poet, thatis to say, one of the elect. The abandoned husband and theuncared-for child desperately call out for their wife and mother. Invain! However, the days that she passes with the poet are filledwith disenchantment, disillusion, and bitterness. Despairing, shewrites a letter to her old parents who live in a distant town, andthen commits suicide. And hardly is Niyu buried, when the poet,although sadly affected by the premature loss of his companion,again begins to charm and entrance by his beautiful words otherwomen, whose lives he ruins.
"Niyu" has had a tremendous success, because it brings a really newformula into the theatrical world. Very little action, very few"situations;" no artificial procedure: life; dialogue imitated fromreality; an atmosphere of despair and tedium in which three beingscruelly struggle; sincere evolution, very much pessimism, andhappiness and love, constitute the traits that characterize thisvery human piece of writing.
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Mention should also be made of Sayitzev, certain of whose storiesare comparable to the aquarelles of a landscape painter. One of hisbest works is "Agrafena," a touching picture of the life of apeasant woman. During her lifetime, she was a domestic in thecities, and when finally, bent under years of labor, she comes backto her native village and her daughter, whom she has secretlybrought up at great pains, it is only to find that she has committedsuicide, having been abandoned by her lover.
Among others, should be mentioned Gussev-Orenburgsky, who haswritten some very interesting stories about the Russian clergy;Skitaletz, whose "Rural Tribunal" has had a great success, and hasbeen translated into several languages; Seraphimovich and Teleshov,who, like Chirikov, depict the life of the "intellectuals," andOlizhey, the psychologist of revolutionary spheres, knownparticularly by his "The Day of Judgment," which tells of anofficer, a member of a council of war, who is forced to condemn hisfuture brother-in-law to death. This story leaves an indescribableimpression of terror and horror.
Let us finally mention Count Alexis Tolstoy, the homonym of thegreat Russian thinker, to whom the critics predict a brilliantfuture. His first work appeared in 1909. He generally depicts landedproprietors. His recent stories, "The Asking in Marriage," and"Beyond the Volga," show signs of great strength and power ofobservation.
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Among the women, there are three who show real talent. In fact, Mme.Hippius-Merezhkovskaya is regarded as one of the founders of Russianmodernism. We are indebted to her for some rather daring verses andsome very good stories. The most recent of these, "The Creature," isthe curious history of a love-sick prostitute; "The Devil's Doll" isan episode in the life of the Russian "intellectuals." Endowed witha caustic spirit, she excels all others in literary criticism.
Then comes Mme. Verbitzkaya, who has declared herself a champion ofwomen, who, she thinks, should throw off the often tyrannical yokeof their husbands. Her novels, "Vavochka," and "The Story of aLife," have given her just renown. In "The Spirit of the Time" shehas tried, not without some success, to paint the immense picture ofthe revolution of 1905. Her recent novel, "The Keys of Happiness,"has had an enormous success.
Finally, mention should be made of Mme. Shepkina-Koupernik, who haswritten some verses and charming stories, full of caressingtenderness and delicate psychology. Her stories, in which she showsus two old Italian masters, are very interesting. Thus, "Eternity ina Moment" is delicious. In a painter's studio, a young model bychance meets her old lover, who has also been reduced to posing instudios. Happy at heart, the woman rushes toward him, but he pushesher away: he is too miserable, he has fallen too low to dare to loveher again. Repulsed by him, she stands as if petrified, with deathin her soul, and her face changed by terrible despair. At thismoment the master enters; he looks at the young woman and utters acry of joy; finally he has found what he wants for his picture:human traits ravaged by suffering and despair!
Russia is also indebted to this author for impeccable translationsof Rostand's "Princesse Lointaine" and "Chantecler."
THE END
