The Martian

"The Martian", by George du Maurier, published in 1898 (UK edition) is a thick (471 pages) largely autobiographical novel that tells about the lives of two bosom friends, Barty Josselin and Robert Maurice, starting from their school age days in Paris in the 1850’s. Written like a narrative with very scarce dialogues and many digressions, the book had considerably less success in its time than the popular "Trilby".

Literary significance & criticism

Of a rather loose construction, its main points of interest lie for today’s readers in lively descriptions of "la vie de bohême" and different parts of Paris through the second half of the 19th century, pages on Mechelen in Belgium and Whitby in the 1870’s, and its superb illustrations.As in Trilby, we find the recurrent theme of antisemitism, but less so.What is new in it is the use of swedenborgianism ("...to the most sceptical he has restored that absolute conviction of an indestructible germ of Immortality within us, born of remembrance made perfect and complete after dissolution: he alone has built the golden bridge in the middle of which science and faith can shake hands..." (p.385)) and hints at eugenism. In fact the "Martian" is none other than an illustration of an entity that undergoes successive reincarnations "ad infinitum", and the theme mingles with the life of Barty and his offspring in the second half of the novel, starting with the beginning of his loss of eyesight and his consultation of a reputed ophthalmologist in Düsseldorf, which is a genuine autobiographical piece of writing from du Maurier. Barty's and his wife Leah's moral, intellectual and, in a way that is obsessional in the novel, physical perfection, will evolve into even more perfect children to build a more perfect race of beings, which is nothing short of eugenism ("And to whom but Barty Josselin do we owe it that our race is on an average already from four to six inches taller than it was thirty years ago, men and women alike; that strength and beauty are rapidly becoming the rule among us, and weakness and ugliness the exception?" (p.386)).

ee also

* David Lodge's biographical novel, "Author, Author" (2004), which tells about the life of Henry James but is also largely about George du Maurier, who was James' close friend.