REZANOV
BY
GERTRUDE ATHERTON
With an Introduction by
WILLIAM MARION REEDY
INTRODUCTION
A long list of works Gertrude Atherton has to her credit as a writer.She is indisputably a woman of genius. Not that her genius isdistinctively feminine, though she is in matters historical apassionate partisan. Most of the critics who approve her work agreethat in the main she views life with somewhat of the masculine spiritof liberality. She is as much the realist as one can be who issaturated with the romance that is California, her birthplace and herhome, if such a true cosmopolite as she can be said to have a home. Inall she has written there is abounding life; her grasp of character isfirm; her style has a warm, glowing plasticity, frequently a rhythmvariously expressive of all the wide range of feeling which a writermust have to make his or her books living things. She does no lesswell in the depiction of men than in the portraiture of women. Allstand out of their vivid environment distinctly and they are allpersonalities of power—even, occasionally, of "that strong powercalled weakness." And they all wear something of a glory imparted tothem by the sympathy of their creator and interpreter. High upon anyroster of our best American writers we must enroll the name of Mrs.Atherton.
Of all her books I like best this "Rezanov," though I have not foundmany to agree with me. It is not so pretentious as others morefrequently commended. It is a simple story, almost one might say anincident or an anecdote. It is not literally sophisticated. For methat is its unfailing charm. I find in it not a little of the strange,primeval quality that makes me think of "Aucassin and Nicolette." Forit is not so much a novel as an historical idyl, not to be read withouta persisting suffusion of sympathy and never to be remembered without arecurring tenderness. Remembered, did I say? It is unforgettable.There are few books of American origin that resist so well the passingof the years, that take on more steadily the glamour of "theunimaginable touch of time." "Rezanov" is a classic, or I miss myguess. This, though it was first published so recently as 1906.
The story has the merit of being, to some extent historically, andwholly artistically, true. For the matter-of-facts Mrs. Athertonprovides a bibliography of her authorities. Those authorities I havenot read, nor should others. Sufficient unto me is the authority ofthe novel itself splendidly demonstrated and established in the highcourt of the reader's head and heart by the author's visualizingveritism. Not twenty pages have you turned before you know thisRezanov, privy councilor, grand chamberlain, plenipotentiary of theRusso-American company, imperial inspector of the extreme eastern andnorthwestern dominions of his imperial majesty Alexander the First,emperor of Russia—all this and more, a man. He comes out of mysteryinto the softly bright light of California, in strength and shrewdnessand dignity and personal splendor. And there is amidst it all a pathosupon him. He commands your affection even while suggesting a doubtwhether the man may not be overwhelmed in the diplomat, the intriguer.The year is 1806. The monstrous apparition of Napoleon has loomed anomen of the doom of ancient authority and the shattering of nations inEurope. That faithless, incalculable idealist Alexander, plans he knowsnot what