Romance is not Dead Says Rafael Sabatini

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 27, 23 April 1927, Page 17 (Supplement)

Romance is not Dead Says Rafael Sabatini

Sabatini, master of the historical romance, says that Bayards and Richard Lion Hearts still abound in this humdrum world. Romance did not

pass with plumes and glittering armrLAT ROMANCE IS DEAD is a common enough assertion; but, like many other assertions, it is one that the facts of life do not justify. Those who make the assertion must have failed to perceive that the death of romance would imply the death of idealism, the surcease of all human inspiration to heroic performance in every realm of life. For romance is not an idle, abstract toy; neither is it an expression of sentimentality. It fulfils a very definite and lofty function. In all ages it has served to stimulate to high achievement, by pointing out the pursuits and characteristics by which heroes rendered themselves not merely renowned, but of service to their fellow-men. In the Middle Ages, romance magnified the extravagant feelings that already existed in the breast of chivalry, converting religion into fanaticism, valour into frenzy, the spirit of enterprise into extravagance, and respect for women into a sort of idolatry. The magnifications of the romancers afforded to the youth of the times a mirror by which to array his spirit, and it inspired in such men as Bayard and Duguesclin their noble ideals of personal valour, self-denying generosity, loyalty, devotion, and l pity. The truth is that the progress of romantic ideals keeps pace with the progress of society. Yet, just as it is easier, remembering only the good, to cast a glamour over the life of one who is dead, so is it easier to cast it over an age that is past. But the mistaken belief that romance belongs exclusively to the past is probably due to the fact that the events of bygone ages assume an aspect of pageantry, which is always in itself romantic. In addition to this, the great figures of the past are revealed by surviving records only in the great moments of their lives. There is no time for a general purview; the commonplace minutiae of life are left out of account because, being common to all human beings, it is unnecessary to chronicle them. Couer de Lion rides across the page of history, empanoplied in.. flashing steel, a golden circlet crowning his helm, and bearing naked in his gauntleted hand the sword that is to deliver the Holy Sepulchre from the Infidel. He is a glittering figure of romance, chiefly because, beholding him thus,

he becomes in our eyes an idealisation of kingship and knighthood. But does ijot this apply equally to King Albert of Belgium, riding forth -with his staff to actions that are to defend or vindicate the neutrality of his country? Every lover worthy of the name must believe in romance, because he lives in a romance. He idealises the object of his affections; becomes a worshipper at a shrine. Mary, the stenographer from the offices of Messrs Bargain and Boost, should be as much a shining figure of

romance to Jim, the warehouse clerk, as was that admittedly romantic lady, Mary Stuart, to Chastelard, or Bothwell, or any other of her many lovers. And Jim to Mary should be as heroic a figure as any belted knight that ever did his endeavour. When the levelling spirit of the French Revolution, abolishing privilege and granting equality of opportunity to all men, made it possible, in the metaphore used by Bonaparte, that the knapsack of every soldier should contain the baton of a field marshal, a way was opened to many a rise to military glory and eminence by that are certainly not lacking in romance. Thus, by the collaboration of chance, began for Junot, that man of the rank and file, the romantic career by which he travelled, within 20 years, to the eminence of a marshal of France and Duke of Abrantes. In our time, and before the outbreak o£ the Great War, it is possible to

name two ennobled British field-mar-shals who began their careers as common soldiers.

Twenty years ago I numbered among my acquaintances a young man who earned a bare livelihood as commercial traveller for a fixjn of printers and stationers. His stock-in-trade was made up of a good presence, health, intelligence, and a vigorous personality recognised by all with whom he came in contact.

Turning all advantages to the best account, he is to-day at the head of a great industrial concern, a man of wealth, a power in his county, which he might represent in Parliament if he chose.

That the life of Napoleon Bonaparte was romantic, will. I think, be generaly admitted. Akin to what Bonaparte did for France in Vandemiaire, adherents of Mussolini feel that the latter has done for Italy in this day of ours. Romance may undergo changes and evolutions, reflecting the changes in the society with which it keeps pace. Perish it cannot, because the love of the wonderful, upon which its existence depends, is too deeply implanted in the human breast. Nor should any sane lover of mankind desire to see it perish; because this love of the wonderful is still, as it has always been, an inexhaustible source of inspiration.

The contemplation of wonderful qualities and wonderful achievements in others is to every worthy human being an incentive to render himself wonderful in his turn. Thus is created in each of us, if we permit it. a noble spirit of endeavour that, even while labouring for itself, labours yet more for others, and serves to enrich all humanity.