VIU INTRODUCTION

Les Oberlê however, is justly regarded as Bazin's masterpiece ; to it, more directly than to any other of his worksy he owes hîs élection to the Académie Française.

Ferdinand Brunetière, admittedly the foremost French literary critic of to-day, one who is, moreover, in full sympathy with the ideals for which Bazin stands, was chosen to deliver the address of welcome upon his réception into the Academy, April 28,

"At the beginning of Bazin's literary career," (1886), says Brunetière, "we were in the very thick of the battle against naturalism, which was then at the height of its power and influence. Naturalism believed, or at least pretended to believe that we were attacking it, whereas we were striving to défend it against its own excesses. We were far from reproaching it for its close study of nature or for its interest in the lives of the humble, or for its disdain of improbable plots. What we did reproach it for was its perversion of a great doctrine of art and for its assumption of superiority over the characters which it created. No human father ever treated more cruelly his helpless progeny. How the author berates them, how dearly he makes them pay for their crime of not being *artists*, and, without stopping to think that he is himself perhaps a little to blâme, — how he scorns them for owing their birth to himl That is the great error of the naturalistic schooU It did not love the créations of its own

INTRODUCTION ix

talent. It saw in them only so many maniacs, simpiétons, grotesques, 'bourgeois.* It did not try to discover the genuine goodness of heart that lurks under a duU and commonplace exterior, the real sxd" fering expressed by an awkward gesturç, the profound sincerity, or the caressing affection conveyed by an ill-turned phrase."

French realists, painters, novelists, dramatists, poets, even, seemed to study the "petit monde" sinr ply for the purpose of mocking or insulting theil characters. Their doctrine of art became simply the expression of their pride as privileged stylists, so that, as a resuit, they generally represented only appearances, for truth, to be found, needs not so much to be sought as to be loved. This tenderness and love Brunetière finds in Bazin, whom he reproaches gently for being too kindly in his earlier writings at theexpense of depth and force. Thèse qualities later came to Bazin through wider study of life in the provinces, in Spain and in Italy so that when he wrote J)^ toute son âme^ 1897, La Terre qui meurty 1899, Les Oberlêy 1901, and Donatienne^ 1902, his talent had attained maturity; he had gained force without resorting to violence or to coarseness.

Brunetière admires especially the simplicity of Bazin's procédure, which consists in putting each thing in its place and in giving it thus its true value as art, as characterization and as life. Is not this naturalism in the best sensé of the word? There is little plot; the characters develop under the influence