\s mYevtew KALEIDOSCOPE - University of British Columbia

BOOKS IN REVIEWGrève makes about Wilde in this essayseem to be a reflection on his own past,or a prophecy about his future. Wilde, atleast according to Grève, dropped all hisposes on his release from prison: Grèvewas, however uneasily, to maintain hisfor life. For example he claimed to Canadianfriends that he had met Wilde(Letters, p. 38, p. 420) ; in fact, as far asanyone can prove he did not. He did,however, meet André Gide; the encounteris recorded in the latter's "Portraitd'un allemagne." Gide spent the entiremeeting terrified that Grève, just releasedfrom prison, would ask him for money,and certain that he was in the presenceof a pathological liar. Interestingly,Gide's own 1902 account of Wilde, uponwhich Grève, in writing his, relied heavily,contains an account of a meetingbetween Gide and Wilde in Paris, whereWilde, entirely defeated, takes Gide asideand says confusedly, in a low voice "Look. . . you've got to know ... I'm absolutelywithout resources ..." Grève did not askGide for money, however, and fought hismountain of debt for five more years beforehe finally gave up the attempt tosurvive in Europe, faked suicide, and leftfor the new world. Any similarity betweenWilde and Grève did not extendto what is most important about themnow, their writings. Only Grove's first,adolescent book of verse showed anythingof Wilde as a literary influence, andStefan George was in fact a more directinfluence than Wilde. As a novelist,Greve/Grove was a naturalist, about asfar from a decadent as one can get.The biographical connections makethis book a fascinating artifact : as a workof criticism it is quite defective. Grèvewas under cruel pressure when he wroteit and it shows. The style is disjointedand little evidence is presented to supportits ideas. It did, however, presentlarge chunk's of Gide's essay ("InMemoriam," 1902, from André Gide'sPrétextes), quite properly acknowledged,to a German audience. And Grève sometimesuses the unanalytical reminiscencesof his two major sources, Gide's essay, anda self-promoting memoir by Robert HarboroughSherard, to make a critical orpsychological point. Sherard notes thatWilde scorned society yet strove for socialsuccess; Grève uses this paradox to revealmore of Wilde's contradictions, to arguethat Wilde "felt sin as sin, and yet committedit."This limited edition is clearly designedfor book collectors and scholars. Bookcollectors will certainly be pleased byRobert Bringhurst's elegant design.Scholars may not find the book's contentas pleasing. The translator, Barry Asker,notes correctly that the "essay seems hurriedlywritten and badly thought out,"and says that it was a difficult text totranslate, but then, somewhat disingenuously,leaves it to "Grove scholars todetermine the quality or significance ofGrove's comment on Wilde." Grovescholars will first want to judge thequality of the translation. According tothe publisher, the edition used for thetranslation is in the library of the Universityof Cologne; no original is known tobe in North America. Without the original,of course, the quality of the translationis impossible to judge. The presenceof an incorrect genitive in the translator'squotation of a German passage ("dieKnappheit des Ausführung" should surelybe "die Knappheit der Ausführung"),which he translates differently fromDouglas Spettigue, leads only to mild unease.Perhaps it might have been helpfulto have printed the German text as wellas the translation. But it is useful to havea translation of the essay simply to knowwhat it contains, even if what it containsis not likely to be significant to many. Tomake it available in Canada without theuse of a publication grant is laudable.And it gains added stature as part of a162