THE FRENCH PRESS ON CHARLES DICKENS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 703, 24 August 1870, Page 4

THE FRENCH PRESS ON CHARLES DICKENS.

— — ♦ . The news of Mr Charles Dickens' death has been received by the Paris papers with expressions of deep regret, and most of them have noticed the career and writings of our great novelist. While all admit the purity and humour of his. works, it is evident that their appreciation of them .is not so high as that entertained here or in the United States — a fact which is not surprising, seeing the difference between the genius of the two nations and the imperfect manner in which Dickens' works have been translated into French. By several papers Dickens is compared with Ba'zac, but of course with a difference. The Liberie observes that " with both writer*) keen observation was the ruling fuculty; both excelled in observation and in description, both enabled us to regard their creations as living persons by minutely picturing even the least objects surrounding them, both were equally conspicuous for producing truth in fiction. But we must add that Balzac was not Dickens, nor was Dickenß Balzac. Both being original by nature, each followed the ideas of his epoch, and reflected tlie habits of his country. There is an analogy between them, but no resemblance. The dreamy element, the fanciful note, as with Hoffman and Nodier, was more strong in Dickens; the tendencies of the thinker were strongest in Balzac." The Patrie remarks that Dickens differed from Balzac, " and it is his good fortune in not sharing Balzac's discontent, his bitterness, or his constant waspish misanthropy. Balzac looked upon society from his own point of view, and, not finding it satisfactory, condemned society. Dickens, on the contrary, saw the world as it is without hatred and without admiration, bring more ready to laugh at its defects than to weep over its vices. He was more philosophical with his British phlegm, for he amu&ed and occasionally improved those whom Balzac discouraged and embittered. His lively but profound pictures of English socie'y are a perfect representation of the 19th century; for, as with all great writers, he enlarged the scene, and his principal characters might have lived in any part of Europe. > It is by reason of this extensive observation , and this elevation of view that Charles Dickens will take rank with Walter Scott, and above Thackeray, Lytton, and other English writers of great talent, but who possessed not that which Dickens, like Shakes- , peare and Moliire, possessed— genius." The , 7 emps admires the humour and truth of Dickens' books, and describes him as a literary counterpart of Hogarth, but objects to his inclination to describe hideous and painful

scenes and ignoble characters. It is disposed to think that the comic writings of Dickens prove him to have been rather light-hearted than witty. The Figaro obser ves that Dickens had an advantage over Ba'zac in " that perfectly British quality — that mixture of sentiment and gaiety which constitutes the • humour ' of English literature." The Gaulois notices the clear insight into character, the love of children, the tender sympathy towards the suffering, and the compassion for the weak and oppressed, that are the striking characteristics of Dickens' writings. In the same paper M. Panl Feval gives an account of his first acquaintance and subsequent friendship with Dickens, of whom he speaks with admiration and affection. One observation he quotes as having been made to him by his illustrious English friend, that " Balzac and many other authors are marked as if criticism had upon them the effect of an attack of smallpox. They become gloomy and dispirited like jaded horses. They are too egotistical; the prickings of the flies of journalism make them nervous and illnatured. For myself, I have been spoilt in a contrary sense. I have been praised more than I deserve." "He was wrong," adds M. Paul Feval, "but he told no falsehood. Nothing in him was false, not even his modesty." j