Judge, 1918-04-13 · page 27 of 36
Judge — April 13, 1918 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily an advertisement for a complete works edition of Guy de Maupassant, framed as satirical commentary on ballet dancers and morality. The illustration shows a classical ballet dancer in a tutu. The accompanying text presents Maupassant's famous short story about a young Paris Opera House dancer who receives flowers, jewels, and attention from wealthy admirers—a "rich stockbroker" and other "generous gentlemen." However, a poor but handsome young man also pursues her, ultimately providing an ironic twist. The satire targets the presumed moral corruption of professional dancers, who, despite low wages, were stereotyped as vulnerable to seduction by wealthy patrons. The joke is that Maupassant's realist fiction subverts this expectation—virtue is "praised and vice is condemned rather by events and action." The advertisement emphasizes Maupassant's unflinching depiction of human nature without moralistic judgment, positioning his unabridged works as serious literature rather than scandalous material.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
April 13, 1918 VIRTUE IN THE BALLET Of all the witches and semi-witches of that eternal Walpurgis Night that represents the world, the ladies of the ballet have at all times and in all places been regarded as least like saints. Whenever a new, youthful dancer appeared at the Paris Opera House the habitues vied with each other in showering her with attentions and in overwhelming her with a veritable broadside of Cupid’s artillery. For how could these young and pretty girls with every right to life, love and pleasure, and subsisting on a very small salary, re- sist the seduction of the smell of flowers and of the glitter of jewels? She had the voluptuous form of a Greek Helen and she took the old guard of the Opera House by storm. The very next morning a perfect shower of billets-doux, jewels, and bouquets fell into the poor dancer’s modest apartment. He was a rich stockbroker, one of those “generous gentlemen,” if the object of his momentary fancy was young and pretty and apparently unsophisticated. And then there was another, who sent no diamonds, and not even flowers, but who was young and good- looking, though poor, and who worshipped her from afar until that memorable night—but read the whole story for yourself as Maupas- sant tells it—an amusing story that is a gem of art and irony, a story with an unexpected ending that will do your heart good, and found with all Maupassant’s other inimitable stories, his novels, his poems and dramas, in this superb VERDUN EDITION of THE COMPLETE WORKS GUY de MAUPASSANT UNABRIDGED AND UNEXPURGATED Maupassant does not moralize. In the wonderful pictures he gives of the world he lived in virtue is praised and vice is condemned rather by events and action. If he is terribly real, and the nudity of his human nature is startling in its effect, it is because his stories mirror life as he found it. A SPECIALLY LOW BEFORE-PUBLICATION PRICE REALISM UNALLOYED The petty meannesses of human nature and the passions—lust and cupidity— which stir most men and women to action did not stay Maupassant’s impartial hand so long as this ugly side of humanity ex- isted. Pitiless as is his art, at times he surprises us with a touch of tender pathos in which we recognize the warm heart of a fellowman. GREATEST OF STORY WRITERS As the supreme master in what is one of the most difficult forms of art—the short story—Maupassant’s fame has ex- tended into all civilized lands. Tolstoy marveled at the depth of human interest he found in his stories; Andrew Lang declared he found in him ‘the tenderness of Fielding, the graphic power of Smollett, the biting satire of Dean Swift, mingled and rein- in Gallic guise;” and Henry James hailed rf ‘a man of genius who had achieved the miracle of a fresh tone.” A Fine Library Edition The beautiful full page frontispiece il- lustrations have been specially made for the VERDUN EDITION by the talented artist, J. E. Allen. This, is the only English translation of Maupassant con- taining illustrations that interpret his Stories pictorially with strict fidelity to the Spirit of the text. 17 Volumes in Rich Cloth Binding Each Volume 8 1-6 x 5 1-2 i ches Big, Clear 12 Point Type on Pure White Antique Paper 5,800 Pages That Wi!l Hold You Chained by the Hour 347. Stories, Novels, Novelettes, Poems, Dramas. Entertainment for a Thousand and One Nights. Love and Life in Strange Lands—Paris, The Orient, The African Hinte! land. Stories of War, Crime, Mys- tery and Horror. Send Today to Get the Benefit of the Before Publication Price READY IN A FEW DAYS By the time your order can reach us the 17 volumes will have been delivered to the binder. Every day’s delay means a substantial increase in price to you. The response to this before-publica- tion offer will enable us to estimate the size of our order for binding. We give before-publication sub- scribers the benefit of the saving we make by order- ing in quantity. $1.00 NOW AND COUPON secures your set at the present before-publication instalment price of $19.00. Then payments of $1.50 (or more) a month after you receive the books. Subscriptions filled in the order in which received. Preference in order of shipment naturally given to sub= scriptions accompanied by the present before-publication cash price, $18.00. Books detioered charger prepaid. MONEY BACK IF NOT SATISFIED [aRUNSWwICK SUBSCRIPTION CO, Joge13-18 1, 118 Brunswick Bldg., New York City I enclose $1.00 fiext payment on the 17 volume set of [ the Verdun Ratton ot Mau at the present before-publication price, $19.00, | agree to remit at the rate of $1.50 [or more] a mont following receipt of books. Otherwise I will within days ask for instructions for their return. at yo pense, my $1.00 to be refunded on their receipt. I veme.. | Address 1 Occupation comicbooks.com