Books: Bourgeois

ARICIE BRUN—Emile Henriot— Viking Press ($2). A prosperous Bordeaux mercer has the misfortune to upset his gig in a ditch. A young traveling man, Julien Brun, has the good fortune to pull him out. Thus, in 1817, begins a human little pageant of French bourgeoisie that continues for four generations, to the outbreak of war in 1914. For of course young Brun marries the mercer’s daughter and lives, though not ever after or in unmitigated bliss, at least long enough to father some little Bruns, whom we follow to their several graves. Aricie is the unselfish daughter who, after losing a gallant military lover, serves her family in season and out; hands over a later suitor—her last chance—to her lovelorn cousin; fusses over the little nephews and great-nephews as they grow up into soldiers, painters and poets out of the mercantile tradition of the family. Aricie grows “inhuman through excess of altruism,” a woman who kills herself with kindness to others.

So pleased was L’Academie Francaise with this French Forsyte Saga that Author Henriot received a prize. It is nice reading for Galsworthy enthusiasts.