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ART OF BIOGRAPHY. more attractive than the lives of CREATOR OF "R.U.R."
NOTES ON MEN AND METHODS.
men of action. Who wants to read the life of Wellington if he has a chance to read that of Byron? Statesmen and bishops do not stand a chance against the poets, for the of action are saints, the men memorable for what they did, a very dull matter; the men of letters, sin- hers almost to a man, are memor- able for what they were, which is always of absorbing interest.
NOT RECOGNISED TILL LATE IN LIFE.
This greatest
The name of Karel Capok, the author of "R.U.R.," has long been familiar to readers and playgoors in this country, but few of them could have been aware that there was another prominent Czech writer of the same name. was K. M. Capek, the Czech novelist of modern times, who has just died at Prague at the age of 67. He was born near the frontier between Bohemia and gay peasantry, a sturdy and ob- Bavaria, in a district where the
durated race, are known as "Chods," and for this reason he adopted the signature Capek-Chod, which serves namesake. to distinguish him from his younger
It is perhaps scarcely surprising to and at a time when the method of approach or attack on the part of all artista towards their art is changing that biography should also undergo a sea-change. The novelist in Gertrude Stein tries to
Part of the reason for the pope get outside time; the landscape painter seems occasionally to be larity of Boswell is due to the fact trying to rid himself of the idea of that we are allowed to see Johnson space; the poet has long ago thrown in the round. It would have been overboard the artifice of rhyme if easy to have concentrated, as not of rhythm; the dramatiet is done, on his piety, Boswell, quite Ludwig undoubtedly would have fumbling. after expressionism; the casayist is become half don, half unconsciously, no doubt, keeps on priest; the letter-writer is dead. giving us glimpses of a potential The biographer is very much alive, him to us at once.
Falstaff in the man which endears but poles apart from his predeces-inconsistent as a man could be, and He is about as gora in outlook and method. "Bis-for that very reason, clubbable as marck," says Emil Ludwig, "re-very few men have been before or novelist until comparatively late He did not achieve fame as a sembles the faces painted by Rem-since. brandt, and must be so depicted." not easy to probe. We are agreed which call for special notice is the The secret of Boswell is in life. The first of his works To Ludwig the pre-eminent charac-that he teristics of the German Chancellor Macaulay thought him, nor yet, published in 1903, and regarded by is not the fool that novel "Kaspar Len, the Avenger," were pride, courage, and hatred. perhaps, the genius that we expect many as his finest work. Len, a These three traits are etched in him to be in view of the fact that simple stonemason, on returning deeply. All else is eliminated. We he produced what everyone allows from his period of military service, get as a result a brilliant lightning to be the model biography. He has finds that his betrothed has become flash of a face, not the whole been called the rounded, complex, Inconsequential
ideal Inter- a social outcast during his absence. thing we call Boul.
and perhaps that fe. He murders the man who was res- Ludwig has the supreme virtue aim at.
biographer should ponsible for her degradation, Is being, a man of acute tried for the murder, but falls dead of being readable, but we are left
perception, who is sympathetic before the trial can be concluded. with the feeling that he has not towards but not an idolater of his given us the complete man. Andre subject, who is yet willing for the Maurois, in his study of Disraeli,sake of his art to play the faithful is even more readable, has a lighter hound, ask absurd questions, begant episodes, but in other respects touch, selects his colours, and puts snubbed, undergo great discomfort the book is remarkably effective, in his lines with more subtlety. In if only he can fill his mind. with The portrayal of the characters, his hands biography takes on all material out of which, in after and notably of the working-class fiction. A man's life does not justere, he will be able to select sen- atmosphere, is excellent, while the tences, situations, and correspond-author's descriptive powers are re- begin with birth and end with
ence to help in the building of his vealed in the Recount of the trial, death. It is almost theatrically
work. dramatic, and can be divided alto-
which subtly mingles the poignant with the trivial, the tragic with the gether too nently into three acts or
humorous. five. It fits a formula which tends to make us suspicious. Everyone will know more about Shelley from reading "Ariel" than they will from Dowden's fur too biased "Life," but few will escape the conviction that Maurois lakes' na muny (if
the charm and the excitement of
viewer, what the
Boswell.
men
Boswell well knew what to leave out. Nearly all modern biographies go needlessly back to the ancestors of their subject, often women of no importance and little boaring on the matter. Enormous pains are taken to create a picture of the development of the child by taking us year by year through his nursery and schooldays, conscien tiously and severely keeping to a chronological order which has the effect of making us read as if we The conviction is probably wrong.were watching the sands in
a
quite different) liberties with the facts to create a dramatic impres sion as Dowden did to stir our allegiance.
A False Conception.
ending is typical of Capek-Chod's fondness for fantastic and extrava
This rather forced and violent
Studies of Decadence.
the
In 1916 appeared "The Turbine," geofa decadence, and this was fol- and a large-scale panorama of bour- owed less than two years later by "Antonin Vondreic," another very long novel, dealing with gradual downfall of a poet who succumbs effects of economic slavery, intensi- to the demoralising
fied by his own fundamental weak- ness of character. "Ad Hec," R collection of vivid wartime stories, was issued in 1920, and in the same
It takes an Englishman a long time hour-glass during a tedious sermon to believe that the entertaining can which we are compelled to sit out. year "Jindra, Father and Son," & be true. It is, so he argues, the What we really want to know is novel containing some admirable | province of fiction to be entertain how he became the man he was, but ruthless descriptions of war- ing; and fiction is not fact Bio how he came to make the irretriev-time Prague. In 1924 care Vilem graphy is fact, and must therefore able mistakes that led to his 'down- be turgid, deep, dull, and undrama-fall, the processes of mind that which Prague artistic circles are Rozkoe," a lengthy narrative in tic. For the most part It may be went to the making of the poem or drastically portrayed and a number. said to live up to its reputation.novel or book, or whatever it was of characters figuring in earlier. Biographies of incredible length, on which his fame rests, high price, and extraordinary irre-
books are reintroduced.
We demand, therefore, of bio- "Resany," Capek-Chod's last levance pour from the publishersgraphy that it should concern novel, was published only a few week by week, and (presumably) human rather than famous men.months ago. It forms a sequel to readers are found for them. No The best biographies probably con- vilem Rozkoc" transferring the man, of importance is allowed to cern men who created but little stir action to a provincial town, the life die without having two fat volumes Dr. Cairns' "Life
of. Dr. of which is subjected to the same
THURSDAY,
FEBRUARY 16, 1928.
DAILY CROSS-WORD PUZZLE.
(This cross-word puzzle has been made by an expert but our readers are warned to look out for occasional phonetic, spellings, such as harbor, plow, and altho.)
18
10
12
13
14
16
17
78
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
28
29
30 31 32
34
35 36
37
58
54
140
42
43
45
48
46
©THE INTERNATIONAL SYNDICATE. HORIZONTAL (Cont) 1-Futurs probabilities |37-A noore
HORIZONTAL
B-A sharp horny nall 39-Measure of wolght 9-Beard of whoát (pl.)}40–Celestial body 11-A particular point 41-Shouta loudly 12-Disturbance by
crowd (pl.)
43–The Supreme Being 44-To cat carofully
14-To pisco in an order 45–Part of the head
or grade
15-Quick humor
17-Precisely right 18-Writing fuld 19-Overwhelming tear 21-Finish 22-An Insect 23-And not 25-Foreign 26-A language 27-An intralcating
drlak
23-A deep cavity
30-Possessive praneuą
33-Pertaining to
comedy
(pl.1 46-Vid
VERTICAL
1-A fat board
2-Machine for
stretching
3-To be Indebted for
4-Unadorned
-A vehicle
Te taunt
7-To breathe noisily
while slouping
R.Tribe
10-To stupefy
11-In the first place.
VERTICAL (Cont) 18-To move quickly to
and tra
16-One of the elemente 19-Pertaining to the
Carthaginians 20-Acuto epramodio
cramps
22-To plead
24-A rodent
28-In na mannar
29-To Tarton
31-Touched with the
toes
32-Not hollow 34-Used for cutting
grass
18-Mixen 36-Consumes
36-A supplication
40-A place where two
edges are joined
12-Sitting much of the 42-An eye Infection
35-Large body of wateri time
43-Deacon (abbr.)
SUGGESTIONS FOR SOLVING CROSS-WORD PUZZLES Start out by filling in the words of which you feel reasonably sure. These will give you a clue to other words crouing them, and they in turn. to still others. A letter belongs in each white space, words startling at the numbered squares and running either horizontally or vertically or both,
(The solution of the above cross-word puzzle will appear in to-morrow's issue along with' a new cross-word pruzzle.)
YESTERDAY'S SOLUTION.
ADD MANAGERSTRY LOOM HAVON TRUC EGRET PEN WREST
SONEW REPRONTI L CANES TREBO T OH CEDAR END OR COMET TOTES SPA APED DENON ROUN TEN MADAM BELLIS ED TOR NEARS 30 D LATER STAIR H REPOSES ENDEDI RIPER GAG DENIL ICES WAGER DENV PER DELETEO LIE
to follow him before the shoes are John Brown" is a good example. minute and unsparing scrutiny as worn out that followed him to the They are to be written by men of that of the capital. For this work grave. Few men are allowed in sympathy, but not hero-worship- Capek-Chod received one of the these days of sought and unsought publicity to attain eminence with out having biographies written about them while they are still in
Emily Bronte's Circle: WO want the heyday of fashion. This is to Emily Bronte herself, 癟 do the cause of biography nothing but harm. It is like criticising a play at the end of each act.
pers, whose eye is so intent upon State prizes which the Czecho-the humiliated and afflicted" (this, their object as to refuse to include Slovak Government awards annual- however, is a common feature of any irrelevancies we do not want ly to various categories of artistic Czech literature), and still more by
achievement. He appears to have very regarded it as the termination of his authorship, for in a newspaper interview which took place only a few days before his death he an- nounced his intention of writing no
different thing.
Brevity, in other words, is the very soul of blography. It ought Quite apart from standing too to be possible to prune it to the near their subjects, the modern bio size of an ordinary novel and yet graphers have adopted an attitude to give within such limits a com- towards their subjects which is plete and truthful picture. Finally. none too helpful. Sir E. T. Cook's It ought to stir as to do more than complaint, that it was as bad to admire the cleverness of the bio-
HONOUR FOR BRITISH WRITER,
Reuter's Agency is informed that the "Samfund Da Nio," of Stockholm, one of the most distin- guished literary societies in Sweden, has awarded its allver medal and diploma.to. Mr. C. D.. Locock, who has made himself well known for translations. of Swedish poetry. During the war Mr. Locock's wide knowledge of lan- guages was of great service in the famous Room 40 at the Admiralty, where intercepted enemy messages were deciphered. Among his best known literary works are Icelandic translations, but he has also turned a number of Malay poems into Eng lish and some of Kipling's verse into
A RUSSIAN STATESMAN.
his faculty of exploring the darker Greek. manifestation of the human soul.
In this connection it is interest- ing to note how often he chooses creative artists a the central characters of hit stories. A great part of his work consists of a brutally ironical commentary on with Balzac, and also with Dosings of fate.
Capek-Chod has been compared the blind and meaningless work
Yet even his most
more.
Business And Art.
statesman of the old regime, who Serge Sazonov, the Russian
died recently, left a book which Jonathan Cape will publish in the course of the spring. It is entitl ed "Fateful Years," and it may be
be too candid as sugar-candied,grapher. It ought to ill us with a toleffaky. With the former he uncompromising realism is randifled said to complete the series of
of
LATE LORD SALISBURY.
to
M.
fails on deaf ears. Because, with desire to emulate the energy of the society in its most varied aspects. humour which, though often sar- public men who were in high office shares a comprehensive vision of by a romantic twist, and by a apologias" written by European the exception of Froude, most of subject and, by his mistakes, to the Victorian blographers set out learn how to avoid repeating them By profesalon he was a journalist, donic and grotesque, is genuinely when the Great War came. with the idea of seeing nothing but in ourselves, for of all aide
His propensity for Sazonov and his experiences in this capacity spontaneous.
Was Russian Foreign good in their subjects, the Geor self-help there is none to compare knowledge of Frague and its trimental to the composition of his able to give an inside, authorita had supplied him with an intimate elaborate detail is sometimes de Minister in 1914, and so he was
theirs. Brilliant and entertaining Mats in "Daily Telegraph." giana must needs set out to belittle with this branch of letters.-S. P. B. people which forms one of the stories, but in many of these des- tive view of what went on la St. as are Lytton Strachey's sketches
most striking features of his stories.criptive passages Capek-Chod de- Petersburg, as the capital then Dr. Florence Nightingale,
He knew the Stock Exchange as monstrates his consummate maa- way. He makes it clear, wè are' Arnold, and General Gordon, we
thoroughly as the studio, and hatery of language. It is, indead, on told, that for Russia it was neces- was as familiar with the profiteer's account of his exuberant virtuosity sary to support Serbia, or loa ber are convinced that they are unfair.
There is no word for the spring drawing-room as with the casual and immense verbal resources that position of benevolent guardian-
he occupies so important a position ship in the Balkans. Anyone who has tried to write of another volume of the blography word. a novel or play knows that it is of the late Lord Salisbury, by his That this versatility was not in the history of Czech prose.
One
of Capek-Chod's short comparatively easy to delineate and daughter, Lady Gwendolen Cecil superficial is seen by the skill with i
Berlin, January 29.- Foreign to arouse interest in unpleasant The two volumes already publish- which he reproduces the most stories, "At the Rotary Machine,"
included among "Selected Minister · Stresëmann reported to- characters and extremely difficulted brought his career up to the diverse modes of speech. The was to make; virtue other than boring. time of events still discussable and argot of the day-labourer is Czech Tales," published by the day that an arbitration treaty had We would far rather that Fuller public men still living. It is felt, handled as accurately as the jargon Oxford University Press in the been signed between Lithuania and The parallel World's Classics series. This will Poland, thus ending a virtual state and Prince had written volumes of no doubt, that there must be a of artistic circles. Unworthies than of Worthies. The break of some considerable time with Dosteoleffsky is justified by serve to give readers some idea of of war between the two post-war republice that lasted several years. lives of men of letters are infinitely before, the blography is completed. Capek-Chod's profound pity for his qualities as a narrator.
Saints and Sinners.
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BOYS-1. JUST DROPPED IN TO TELL YOU IF THATJURY DON'T
·CONVICT-FEL KNOW THERE:19-
NO JUSTICE-
BRINGING UP FATHER.
JUST THINK THAT · FELLOW IS QUILTY AND YOU FELLOWS KNOW; ITS WHY, IT WAS A DELIBERATE,
PREMEDITATED AN CRIME - HE KNEW IT IN HIS OWN.
HEART
WHY THE WAY HE
TALKS SHOWS THAT SEVEN HIS BEST PAL 'SHOOK KIM-WHERE
·DIO HE GET THE MONEY TO PAY HIS LAWYERS- ALLASK YOU?
*RIGHT
YES-WE COULON:
FORM AN OPINION BEFORE- THIS IS. THE FIRST TIME,
WE'VE HEARD THE DETAILS
© 1928, by 181') Fonture Zorvick, fac, Gems Britain, rights commen