L'Archiduc François-Ferdinand by Maurice MuretReview by: R. W. Seton-WatsonThe Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 11, No. 33 (Apr., 1933), pp. 723-724Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4202835 .

Accessed: 12/06/2014 18:40

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School of Slavonic and EastEuropean Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Slavonic andEast European Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 62.122.76.48 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 18:40:44 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REVIEWS. 723

L'Archiduc Franfois-Ferdinand. By Maurice Muret, membre de l'Institut. Paris (Grasset), I932. 347 pages. 20 frs.

SINCE the war more than one study of the enigmatic and tragic figure of Francis Ferdinand has been published-notably the books of Sosnosky and Chlumetzky: and much more may be culled from other sources. 'M. Muret seems to have examined every available source, sifted many legends that have gathered round Belvedere and Konopisht and collected much oral evidence from many persons in different ranks of life who were connected with the Archduke. His results are put together with equal artistic skill and critical judgment. No romantic detail is omitted, but each is relegated to its true place, and the necessary notes of interrogation-and they are many-are added with very special care. Indeed, the figure of the Archduke himself gradually emerges from the book as a vast note of interrogation, to which the Archduke's own friends and intimates are made to contribute: and at the end we are left with the fundamental question unanswered. In this M. Muret again proves himself as a master of historical sense and artistry: for it will always remain one of the greatest riddles of history, whether " Francis II " would have proved equal to the vast problem of recon- stituting the Habsburg Monarchy on durable lines, or whether his efforts would merely have precipitated the very catastrophe which he saw to be impending.

Francis Ferdinand is justly pourtrayed as the strongest Habsburg personality since Joseph II-" more explosive than impulsive," full of violent likes and dislikes (especially the latter), affectionate in his home life, an ardent Catholic, a loyal friend, possessed with an intense desire to promote the greatness of his House and of the Monarchy, ready to shrink at nothing, curiously open to criticism if administered in the right form, but ruthless, inconsiderate, avaricious, detested by the " small man " on his estates, and brutally unrestrained in his prejudices. He " dedaignait les nuances, coupait dans le vif et ne menageait personne," to quote but a single penstroke out of many. M. Muret is inclined to think that this violence of temperament is sufficiently explained by his Bourbon and Este blood, by his early illness and neglect, and by the intense and sustained irritation of his situation in the years preceding the war, when he saw his uncle growing feebler and risking utter disaster and yet found himself powerless to apply any remedy.

There are admirable chapters on the Archduke's attitude to the Magyars, to Italy, to the Southern Slavs, to the army, to constitutional reform. He is shown to have been quite definitely opposed to war and to have aimed at the reconstitution of the Three Emperors' League. M. Muret has nothing new to say on this point, but here, as on every subject throughout the book, he is at once lucid and suggestive and leaves a most vivid picture. Nowhere is his habitual caution better

This content downloaded from 62.122.76.48 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 18:40:44 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

724 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

shown than in the chapters on the murder and the plot that evoked it; the various fantastic theories on the subject are propounded one after the other, only to be dismissed or reduced to more fitting and sober proportions.

R. W. SETON-WATSON.

Moja Podr6f do Rosji (My journey to Russia). By Antoni Slonimski. (" Roj," Warsaw), I932. PP. I97.

AMONG the books on Soviet Russia appearing nearly every day in all languages, this volume is to be singled out for many reasons. It is written by an outstanding Polish poet and critic well known for his gift of keen observation as well as for his independence of mind. He went to Russia equipped with a thorough knowledge of the language and of things Rus- sian. He is far from having any nationalistic prejudices, and his attach- ment to Socialist ideals was an indication that his curiosity about the Soviets was a rather sympathetic one.

He does not discuss political matters, economic planning, the con- struction of new industrial towns and similar questions. The sole object of his curiosity is life itself. He is not easily impressed by new factories, knowing well that a few hundred miles westwards there are numbers of similar ones lying idle. His method, as he defines it, was simply to look into people's eyes. He recognises that the Soviet experiment has been a gigantic one: " Never before in the history of the world has man been kept at such a temperature and under such a pressure." The primary question is how far the nature of man has been affected by it.

Slonimski visited the new Soviet laboratories and institutions, such as, for instance, children's homes and the Palace of Labour, he saw their new museums and official show-places; but he was particularly anxious to find his way into private lodgings, to penetrate into courts of justice and to talk with chance acquaintances in the street. This was by no means easy, as he had to evade by stratagem his Communist hosts who looked after him with embarrassing attention. He has shown himself also to have been critical about inspired statements and suggestions, in pronounced contrast with the " Anglo-Saxon tourists," whom he men- tions, who are so easily deluded because of their implicit trust in the truthfulness of any informant.

Cautious though he was, however, he found many things to admire, more perhaps than his reader would admire with him. He liked the woman's welfare clinic, he was greatly impressed with the Park of Recrea- tion and Culture, he enjoyed the performance of an excellent educational film. He acknowledges the earnestness and ardour of the Communist Russian youth, of the girls in particular, serious, hard-working and ecstatic about their work; girls after whom the existence of frail, silky and lipsticky Western creatures seems to be a dream. Here and there he finds things superior to those of the West, and his book is not lacking in sarcastic observations about Western countries. His attitude towards

This content downloaded from 62.122.76.48 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 18:40:44 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions