"MARIE-CLAIRE."

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1049, 11 February 1911, Page 13

"MARIE-CLAIRE."

.•If "Maria-Claire" had appeared l anbny- "■'■ mously,' it would have been put down .'•) as the'work of a great stylist, and con-. ; '.'; jecture would have raged as to. who ho I Was,' .'says a writer", in '.-.: Women's Supplement, ■ speaking.-of-. a -.:..; writer who has made a great sensation- • . in France. His extraordinary qualities j of reticence, of rhythm, of simplicity, . of choosing the Tight word so that .it .'-;; seemed not chosen but natural, his power : of . selection and reproduction—these things would have occupied the,attentwn", : of the critics for weeks. As it" is the '.i author's identity has turned all thoughts to the matter of her book, rather than '■•.'-•; the manner of it; and it is-the-manner -.-.- of it which is so amazing.'. ..... '. :]\ Marguerite Audoux is forty-six,. and _ \j has been' a seamstress since»- ! she wa3 : ';] twenty-one. She has never. .been able" ii or write properly,^she has lived- .-.'J an extraordinarily solitary"life, and sh.3 "J bursts upon the world with a book : J which is'like-one of the engraved gems Oj in tho British Museum—a- miracle of," .] translucent beauty, carved-? with minute' ■■■..-.{ figures -whose very eyes „wfl.can "see. .i When one hears much, of .a '-'thing;: one; • .-] has an expectation of something unusual.; ] and beneath that a strong-expectation of , disappointment. With" • "Marie-Claire', ;,l both these expectations..are swept away t :•! by. the greatness of the book. It is' -.| clear as a diamond. Here is the plot ::'-.'.;'-.i Marie-Claire is brought up" in a con- .;] vent for orphans, .where Sister Marie .: ■! Aimee loves her. The. : Mother. Sriperior • :-:j sends her out to a farm to mind sheep;.: '-] She is well treated. ".Kew people came ~::) to the farm; she.is' riot so well,treated. . ,1 Her. mistress's brother■', falls inldve with> . j her, and for a little".'while she- lives ;en- ' ■ ;j chanted.' Then they are 'discovered and must-part.' She ; goes back to the con-v-.y vent; her friend has gone. She finds' an ;- old comrade in one of the sisters;^but "~ : :!i she dies. Marie-Claire goes to the ,sta-•: -j tion to start for Paris. - That is/the' : 4| end of tho book." , - ;, ... ; ! . .- ;y

Anything balder could riot be conceiv-'V: ed; the question, is how: such" a" Bkelcton v- v" is to be clothed.,' With moralising? vKot, ',:; a word. With doscrintions of emotion?•:;'.; Not one. With .dissertations on -charac-: ' ■': ter?' Not a.'tracc.: ; The . skeleton;;;isv ;v; simply.clothed...with truth. The events:; ;; are told almost photographically. Mar-; guerite Audbux is one of the; closest :ob-:; :, servers who ever wrote;.she is" as keen-,; ~' sishted as a naturalist and as clear-re-minded as'a- mathematician. :Jt is. am '; awkward, business - to translate ; linipid : ';\ French into English, but here is her ;: scription of being lost in a fog with the,.-:;.; sheep:— - ..■ .. ■' .' *...'" '■':'. ... • .... I followed the sheep without knbwrng./i-;': where 'they were .leading-me. They-siid--; 'v denly left the road to turn to the.right; ,7 but I stopped them . immediately;. I had: .•;.-;. just seen the ontranco of a. church.; The/ ::'.' doors were wide open,; and at-each;side .'■: showed .'two red lights which '; the grey arch. Enormous pillars stretch-';/:: cd away in straight lines, and at;.the';,:;. end one guessedat little square 'windowß , S fafntly'lighted.-1 had a great deal.'', of -1. ; trouble to keep the sheep.from going'to-,'..i wards this chnrch, and as I pushed therm, ■";"£ away I saw that they ,were covered vrith I;-V little, white pearls of wet.'..-They theriiselves each moment, and it made;a'.-. ■■< little' clashing' sound.'.?; .-I, understood;v'i> tliat'. these. great dark pillars, -worn; by aEo, were simply the trunks of-'the' ; ; chestnuts. At. tho. same .moment I. 1 'cognised' tho windows with ; the \~ litlte'-.'S-'i ;-sqnare : .-panes■ of the'big sitting room,; ■'■* .lighted bv the fire in the chimney. ; !: •;; : i The child strikes up;.a: curious, silenti ; ,;j friendship with the brother of .the! firsts i; fanner she serves.: As a specimen of the>','"•! opportunities for description,-inoralising, ;• '."■-.-.■ and explanation which she passes by. with; fi the simplicity of the highest art, here her description of how the two sat side the farmhouse door on summeT even-;-.- -', ■ingSJ— ■;-■ '■ yy ■['■■"-.:. ■ - ' ,'■'--.-.. :. ... -'-;'V\-':Tj :: : Often we were still on the bench wherf r v; everyone else was already in. bed. 'The>J,;J; inadge-owlet came, to the old "elm, which:; .! was' near the • door/-, Her/ soft. crying (hu-: > ";'1 lulement) •seemed to say. Good-night to- >; us; .then.she flew away, and her great: ;! wings passed-in silence above us. ...:■;'. ArJiA Many times a yoice'sang on the •hillock.'yfts •I' stayed shivering.'' This full 1 voice?j.i which passed through'thennight tecalledifiuj Colette's to me.. ... -..;'f."'-; '. //i-rA'-Eugene went in'when" the voice stop- -H ped;; but. I waited in' the hope to. hear: a more. -Then : he.said to me: . ; -- ;'>j

' "Come in; it is: all over." '... r ■"'-■'}.-V' J -i ■ That is the way in which the tiori.of the reader is taken captive, com T ! pelled to work for itself..to form sictureal.■■'■'.^