For and Against ‘The Founder’

moment of a precocious and charming child’s life with an inner vitality that is only dissipated when the child succumbs to the demands of nature and she finally does grow up. Troyat’s imaginative powers reach into the bird-flutterings of a young girl’s heart. He writes with admirable delicacy. His narrative power lies in making the abundance of these small details interesting to us, who have grown up already.

But there is a major fault in the book which Troyat must accept the responsibility for. Possibly because this is the third volume in a long series, Troyat does not carry the story through from the viewpoint of Elizabeth. There are interruptions which deal with the lives of his earlier heroine, Amelie, and of her exasperating husband and rapscallion brother. Unfortunately for Elizabeth, these interruptions are marvelously done. We quicken to them. Snatched from the life of the child, we enter the adult lives with a kind of relief, because there is an ordering power here, the liberty of action, physical and moral, which a child rarely enjoys. Besides, the problems are closer to us. Returning again to the little girl leaves us impatient. It takes us some pages to reinvest ourselves with Elizabeth’s preoccupations.

EV

About the Author

Eliseo Vivas

Featured Tags

moment of a precocious and charming child’s life with an inner vitality that is only dissipated when the child succumbs to the demands of nature and she finally does grow up. Troyat’s imaginative powers reach into the bird-flutterings of a young girl’s heart. He writes with admirable delicacy. His narrative power lies in making the abundance of these small details interesting to us, who have grown up already.

But there is a major fault in the book which Troyat must accept the responsibility for. Possibly because this is the third volume in a long series, Troyat does not carry the story through from the viewpoint of Elizabeth. There are interruptions which deal with the lives of his earlier heroine, Amelie, and of her exasperating husband and rapscallion brother. Unfortunately for Elizabeth, these interruptions are marvelously done. We quicken to them. Snatched from the life of the child, we enter the adult lives with a kind of relief, because there is an ordering power here, the liberty of action, physical and moral, which a child rarely enjoys. Besides, the problems are closer to us. Returning again to the little girl leaves us impatient. It takes us some pages to reinvest ourselves with Elizabeth’s preoccupations.