Page:Calvary mirbeau.djvu/3

 ALVARY" can be called a masterpiece without exaggeration. In its remarkable pages, Octave Mirbeau, who has been characterized as "the Don Juan of the Ideal," pours the tumultuous passion of a Byronically sensitive soul. It is filled with pity, it trembles with poetry and is extraordinary by reason of its wave of sublime eloquence. Yet it is a simple story, the story of a love for a wilful woman, but the striking character which distinguishes it lies in the clear, unmatched impressions of the love.

Jean Mintie, the hero, is an analyst of the soul who cannot experience an action without dissecting it, a man of feeling who recklessly surrenders himself to his love, at once frenzied and intelligent; a man neither foolish nor an imbecile, who yet permits himself to be dragged to the depths of vice and crime for his sweetheart. The description of Mintie's reaction to war is masterly in its realism.

The book has undeniable charm—a powerful, sweeping narrative. It is the record of a man crucified by his love.