SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1937, 20 December 1913, Page 9

SOME RECENT FICTION.

A Canadian Kipling. Alan Sullivan, tlio author of "The iassing of Oiil-l-But and Other Talcs" (J. M._ Dent and Co.), is a writer whose nanjo is new to mo. His stories of JCskimo life, of the perilous adventures, and often tragic experiences which fall to tho lot of the hunters and. trappers who pursue their calling in the far north of tho Hudson Bay Territory, or to the mining prospectors and engineers wlio push their way into the desolate Alaskan interior, havo all tho ring of truth. There is no suspicion, y.'it'ii Mr. Sullivan, as there too often is with Jack London, of realism beiii,j embroidered by imaginatifo romance. Here is the real thing, not tho diluted, picturesque realism which is demanded by the magazine editor. To ail Australian or Now Zealand leader tlio prevailing note of grimnoss which permeates so much of the now very liberal supply of stories dealing with lifo in the Canadian Far North may bo somewhat rcpe'dant. Hut it is good for the dweller under 1 " the Southern Cross to know how hard, how terribly hard, Canadian life in certain of its phases, may be, and is, for thereby may, and certainly should, como greater contentment with tho smoother, easier existenco of the oversea Biiton whose lot is cast in Australasia. Mr. Sullivan has a fine sense of the dramatic, and a command ofreal pathos—pathos by suggestion—which contrasts very pleasantly with the cruder, more melodramatic methods of othcre who have written of Canadian life. There is a twin quality of virility and subtlety in these pictures of the lonely, snow and ice-covered regions of tho Canadian Sub-Arctic, which is. insistently fascinating. Mr. Sullivan is a writer whose future work should be awaited with no small curiosity and intorcst.

IN OLD VIRGINIA. "Hearts Courageous," by Hallie Erminio Rives (Hoddcr and Stoughtou; per S. and W. Macka.v), is a well-told story of Virginian life in the old colonial days, tho period being that immediately following the famous "Boston Tea Party." Tho hero is a gallant young French nobleman, Louis Armand, Marquis de la Trouerie, who visits tho colony on a secret displomatic mission and promptly falls in lovo with a very charming daughter of the soil, the belle of Williamsburg, Mistress Anne T'illotson, a daughter of one of tho oldest families, and .the standing boast of all tho gallants of tho famous Tobacco State. . Tho love story of this interesting pair does not always run .very smoothly, for tho Marquis- is suspected, and accused by a rascally rival —a British officer —of being a common spy and an arrant impostor. Tho lady, on her side, is a flirtatious little dame, and mutual misunderstandings arc thereby created. But Miss .Hives'a story has not only a pleasing'sentimental interest, but is rich in pen portraits of not a few men v.hose names will be for ever famous in American history. The patriot, Patrick Henry, is quite a prominent figure, and we net glimpses of Washington, of Jefferson, Lafayette, and Franklin, of Lord Dunmore,' the British Governor, and of that picturesque old. British gentleman, Lord Fairfax, whoso descendants still hold large properties in Virginia. The author's pictures of the social life of the old colony are very brightly drawn, and most entertaining. "Hearts Courageous" is not only n very wholesome and spirited story, with a fine element of romance in its main incidents, but is also a very attractive historical study.

THE WITHIN. : Patricia Wcntworth, whose fine historical novels, "A Marriage under tho Terror" and "Tho Devil's Wind," will be remembered by many of my readers, now gives us, in "The Fi.ro Within" (Andrew Melroso; per George Robertsoil), a curious and rather unpleasant story of present-day English life, in which tho interest is largely psychological. The principal liguro is a young doctor, who-suspe:ts the husband of a woman whom ho (tho doctor) has loved, of having poisoned his wealthy uncle. Circumstantial evidence is strongly against tho. husband, but the wife induces tho -doctor, much against tho latter's will, to sign the. death certificate. The medico now becomes a prey to mental depression and insomnia, whereupon the sister of the .woman lie had loved, and lost, saves him from becoming a drunken wreck .by marrying him, having long lovodhim in secret. She hypnotises him into sleep, and eventually brings him back to normal health, the remorse at having signed tho death certincato disappearing when it is found that_ the wealthy undo had actually committed suicide. The author hardly convinccs mo that the doctor hero has two personalities, his normal self when awake, and a dream existence when asleep, but the story is worked out to an ending winch will please many readers, although in compassing this_ end Miss Wentwiorth introduces an incident which, handled though it bo with delicacy; is not a littlo suggestive.

THE MEREDITH!AN MR MONTACUE Mr. C. E. Montague, of whose clever story of journalistic lil'o in Manchester, "A Hind Let Loose," I have very pleasant recollections, has followed up his first success by a novel, "The Morning's War" (Methuen and Co.; per Whitcombe and Tombs), which is in many ways an original and arresting effort, but which is, I fear, too palpably Meredithian in style to appeal to most readers Not even Mr. Maurice Hewlett himself, in "Rest Harrow," and others of his later stories, has given us a nearer approach to Meredith. Thero are passages in this book which might have been transferred liolus bolus from "The Egoist" or "One of Our Conquerors,"' so clear is the Meredithian inspiration in style. As to tho story itself, it has a fine plot, recounting as it does the love story of a clover young literary man, Aubrey Heathersage, and a vc-ry charming Anglo-Irish girl, Juno, a story which opens with an exciting adventure on .the Alps, is continued against a Northern English and an 'Irish background, and ends on a highlydramatic note. A leading character is a middle-aged journalist of strong individuality, and not even Mr. AVclls himself could strike a noto of greater modernity than is reflected in the clever, at times almost brilliantly clever, dialogue, and in the" passages "descriptive of latter-day movements and ideas. "Tho Morning's War" is a singularly fresh, and, in many ways, delightful story, but I would prefer a Montague less diluted by Meredith.

MR. CROCKETT IN FRANCE. It is sometime now since I have read a novel by Mr. S. fi. Crockett, who, in days gone by, tho days of "The Haiders" and "Lads' Love" gavo us so many excellent stories of the onco-fashion-. able Kailyard school of fiction. 01' lato Air. Crockett has gone further afield, and now favours Franco rather than Scotland as a background. The subtitle oF his latest story, "A Tatter of Scarlet" (llodder and Stoughton ; per S. and W. Maekay), is "Some Adventurous .Episodes of the Commune ill tho Midi, 1871." Tiiu revolutionary spirit which manifested itself in Paris after the debacle at Sedan stiuck a sympathetic keynote in the Midi, or South of Franco, where for a time the "Beds" were almost as mischievously activo as in * Bellevillo and Montmartre. Mr. Crockett's stor.v recounts the adventures of two young men, one a Scot, the other of Irish birth, who, at tho time of tho war, are living in tho oldfashioned city ol "Amnion," the father of the Irish lad being the manager of a small arms manufactory. Led

[ awav by tlio spirit of adventure,'tiieyj join the Italian Legion under Garibaldii and see some active service, laicr/ion" becoming involved, indirectly,.in a revolutionary outbreak headed by a leading spirit- in the famous Internationale.. Tho story is a clever melange of historical episodes, persona! adventures, and romance, and needless to say Mr.. Ciocketfc provides sonio mightily pretty love-making. "A Tatter of Scarlet" may bo commended as a very original,' and certainly readable, novel, in which moic than one historical character, notably Garibaldi and his two sons, Ricciotti and Menotti, and tho ardent young revolutionary Crcmieux, play, leading parts. ■ ■ • 7&< A SOUTH AFRICAN STORY. > Mr. Bancroft's fine novel, "Tlio Veldt Dwellers," has been followed by a secend and equally powerful story from tho. samo pen, "Thane Brandon" (Hutchinson and Co.; per AVliitcombo and Tombs). Tho period is that of the. Boer War, the, hero being ft Transvaalcr, of British birth, a back-veldt farmer, who is a loyalist, but who loves and is loved by a 800- girl. Tho story is rich'in dramatic incident-, and is a quite notable literary achievement in South African fiction. Moro than once the author strikes quite a tragic note, and the picturesque local colour,, evidently tho outcome of a most intimate knowledge of veldt life during tho war. It is a much better,, moro sincere story than the over-boomed "poll Doctor.'', and in its. special psychological quality reminds me not a hitle of Olive Scbreincr's once-famous, ■ but- now. I fear, half-forgotten masterpiece. '-'Tlio Story of a South African Farm." '

LONDON PICTURES. In "Both Sides of the Bead," by 15. A. Clarke (Ward, Locke and Co.;'.per S. and W. Maclcay), are collected'-;-'a number of really excellent, short stories of various phases of London ljfo. Tho district- divided by Trafalgar i?oad eontains two classes. On ono side are t.ie poor, jpn tho other a comfortably-o'f middle-class population. The author does not copy the Gissing method of being blind to all that is not dull, sordid, or revolting. lie has a gift nf humour himself, and can see humour ■» others, and gives ample evidence of being a kindly-hearted, as well as a shrewd observer. I can warmly roeonimend this book to all who either "know their London" or would fam make acquaintance'with some of the curious, amusing, and pathetic features of its life. Amongst forthcoming new issues of the "Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature" are volumes by Vernon Lee ("The Beautiful: An Introduction to Psychological Aesthetics"), J. Jl. Thursfield ("Naval Warfare"), J. H. Longford ("Tho Evolntion of New Japan"), and Professor Dakm, of Perth, W.A. ("Pearls").