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University of Oklahoma

Journal de l'Affaire Dreyfus, 1894-1899 by Maurice Paléologue

Review by: Edmond de Jaive
Books Abroad, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Winter, 1957), p. 40
Published by: Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma
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40 BOOKS ABROAD
understoodthe wordsto meanthatJesuswant- * JacobPaludan.LitteraertSels\ab. K.0ben-
ed to be betrayedand that he had beenchosen havn. Hasselbalch.1956.252 pages. 18.50
to carryout the Lord's desire.Only after he kr.
saw the effects of his deed on the minds of This collection of thirty-twoessays contains
both the followers and enemies of Jesus did eight about Danish authors,seventeenabout
he realizewhat he had done. He saw that al- foreignauthors,and seven essayson such sub-
thoughhe had fulfilledthe Biblicalprophecies, jectsas foreignloan-wordsin Danish and Jut-
he had done an unspeakablething. Then he land's weather. IndividualEnglish-speaking
threw away the silver pieces and in sorrow authors with whom Paludan deals are Ber-
he hung himself. trand Russell, Thoreau, T. S. Eliot, Herbert
MarcelPagnol'sversionof the Judasstoryis Read, GilbertNorwood, and G. N. M. Tyr-
told in beautifullanguage.The actionis wor- rell; German-speakingauthors,Max Picard,
thy of the scripturalstory.It deservesto rank Hesse, Benn, Jiinger,Egon Friedell,Thomas
amongthe bestof Pagnol'sdramaticworks. Mann, and Werfel; Danes, Dalgas, Kidde,
WillisH.Bowen Feilberg, Anker Larsen, Hohlenberg, Vilh.
Universityof Oklahoma Andersen,and the late MartinA. Hansen;he
includes also Dostoevsky and Simone Weil.
AlthoughPaludancoversa wide rangeof sub-
^ MauricePaleologue.Journalde I'Affaire jects and tendenciesin this collectionof es-
Dreyfus, 1894-1899.Paris. Plon. 1955. iv says,he revealsa consistentlyfine senseof dis-
+ 273 pages.750 fr. crimination,and his criticaljudgmentsare of
In this journal,MauricePaleologuemakes a a high orderof excellence.
sensationalrevelation.According to his sin- LawrenceS. Thompson
cere conviction,the act of treasonof which Universityof KentuckyLibraries
CaptainDreyfus was accusedhad been com-
mittedby a groupof threepersons:Esterhazy, ^ Ezra Pound. Section: Roc^-Drill. New
the nebulouscharacterMauriceWeil, and fi- York.New Directions.1956.107pages.$3.
nally an officerof very high rank, who has This volumecontainscantos85-95 of Pound's
never been suspected.The author does not majorwork. These cantosaresometimescom-
revealthe name of this officer;we may expect mentary, sometimes documentation, some-
thatmuchresearchwill be done todayin order timeslyric.The lyricis not, however,personal,
to find out who he was. The trio startedtheir as it was to some extentin the Pisan Cantos.It
spying as early as 1886, and it lasted until has rather the magnificenceof public cere-
1889. monial. Pound is a public poet; his subjectis
Maurice Paleologue played an important culturein the most fundamentalsense. That
part in the hectic years of the "Affaire."He people find his work obscureis probablydue
was attached to the Ministere des Affaires in partto the unexpectednessof findinga pub-
Etrangeres,and knew the secret diplomatic lic poet in an age given to introspectionunder
documents.His testimoniesbeforethe Courts an intricatelysophisticatedplay of language
helped to show the innocenceof Dreyfus,but and metaphor.Pound is a didacticpoet. He
of coursehe was alwaysrestrainedin his depo- impartsinformation;and those unwilling to
sitions on accountof his high positionin the learnthe subjectshe teachesmust enrollunder
diplomaticcorps. In this journal he reports other lecturers,but need not complainof ob-
thatat firsthe was convincedof the culpability scurity.On the other hand, there are "beau-
of Dreyfus,but he cameto suspectthe honesty ties" for every reader,especiallyin those pas-
of Lt. Col. Henry and the existenceof a ma- sages where the poem's basic metaphorsof
chination against Dreyfus organized by the water and light fuse in an image of crystal.
real traitors.As he witnessedall the incidents Ben Allen Par\
of the troubledperiod, his narrationis capti- Johns Hopkins University
vating.
The diplomatic career of Maurice Paleo- ^ HermannRauschning.Mas\en und Meta-
logue, descendantof the emperorsof the Ro- morphosen des Nihilismus. Frankfurt
man Empireof the Orient,has been very bril- a.M.Humboldt.1954.224 pages.7.50 dm.
liant,from attacheto ambassador.As a writer, The emigre authoris well known to political
he leaves a respectablename, and he was a historiansfor his works Gesprdchemit Hitler
memberof the AcademieFranchiseat the time and DeutschlandzwischenOst und West. An
of his deathin 1944. earliervolume,Die Revolutiondes Nihilismus
Edmond de ]aive (1936), is a chaptertitle in this more compre-
Gulf Par\ College hensive treatment. Rauschning displays a

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