She Had It

THE LOVE LIFE OF VENUS--Francis de Miomandre--Brentano ($2.50).

It takes a Frenchman to make a lady of Venus. Author de Miomandre does it, in much the same way that Author John Erskine refurbished the reputation of Helen of Troy. In a politely gossipy conversational manner which suits the Frenchman better than it did the U. S. professor. Author de Miomandre gives as complete as possible a biography of Venus: in her peculiar case her biography is the history of her love life.

From her birth on the foam of the Mediterranean to her final disappearance from the medieval German castle of Venusberg, Venus's career consisted of little but amatory adventures. Author de Miomandre's account does not pretend to be exhaustive, but it hits the high spots: her marriage with Vulcan, her bedazzlement of Paris, subsequent passages at arms with Mars, Anchises, Adonis, Hermes, Tannhauser. Venus's first, most famed intrigue, her affair with Mars, is related with great insight and sympathy: from this narration the wronged husband, Vulcan, emerges the hero, and Mars is shown in an unenviable and ridiculous light. Author de Miomandre is no admirer of Mars, says some bright things about his dullness: "As soon as he saw anything the least stormy on the conversational horizon, he abruptly took the sharp, superior attitude of someone who, under no circumstances, is going to get wet."

Not only a Frenchman but a gallant Frenchman, Author de Miomandre's criticism of Venus is usually tacit, always tempered with admiration. Though he writes as an historian, conscious of documents, it is his firm though undocumented belief that the goddess has returned to Mt. Olympus, where she dwells as beautiful, as potent, as ever.

Author de Miomandre's other (translated) books: Orientale, Written on Water.

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