Excerpt from The Novels, Romances and Writings of Alphonse Daudet: The Little Parish Church<br><br>That he had not attempted a task beyond his powers was at once apparent. The old charm re appeared in the description of the quiet country along the Seine a few miles out of Paris a setting furnishing an admirable foil to the passionate scenes to be enacted. The old sympathy for humanity in all its aspects reappeared in the excellent description of the passers upon the highway, especially of that pathetic tramp, Pére Georges. There were even traces of the sponta neous humor of yore, and everywhere there was evidence that Daudet had by no means abandoned his practice of studying attentively the living docu ment. The psychological power, too, that had been marked in other works again stood him in good stead, and toward the close of the new story there was enough action to satisfy the readers that demanded interest. Clearly T/ze Little Paris/z Chunk, if a new departure, was by no means a sign that the master's powers were flagging seriously and that he was vainly endeavor ing to conceal the fact from himself and his admirers.<br><br>When we re-read it, now that Daudet's death has rendered impartial judgment of himself and his works far more possible, we are led to conclude that while this psychological study cannot fairly be ranked as one of its author's indisputable masterpieces, it is nevertheless an interesting work in itself and quite important to the careful student of Daudet's development. It is interesting because of the power with which the workings of a master passion, often before depicted, are described in a fairly new setting. It is important to the student of Daudet because, as we have seen, it shows that he was expanding and seeking new outlets for his genius, while still conserving his former strength and charm.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.