SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1995, 28 February 1914, Page 9

SOME RECENT FICTION.

■ ; JACK LONDON'S LATEST. Jack London has, so I read somewhere the other day, expressed his intention of retuming to the ''icy nortli"of his earlier stories, and making Alaska the background of two or three new novels.' Meanwhile, in'"The Valley of the-Moon" (Mills ,and Boon'; per George Robertson and Co.) he gives his admirers olio of the most original,' strongest and' bpst stories that not only he, but any other' American author, has produced. His hero , and 'heroine,, Billy Roberts. 1 aiid. Saxon Brown? are' figures taken-, from the crowded, hustling, . sordid' 'and tawdry, . life of. .'Oakland, Sail Francisco. .The girl is i a laundress, tho raan; ' a ; teamster, and in his leisure' hours a popular.'.heavy-wdight' boxer.- There is real good red blood in both- of but- the - girl,, despito the handicap or ; ses, is th'o'-.stronger liatured of the .two. For a> stime' tho married life of the big - "mall - boy"..and" his. pretty 'little wife rims shioothly enough, but" all too quickly, . they are fairly "snowed under" by'misfortune, jßilly's • union becomes involved in a big strike, and tho wage-earner is thrown but'of work. .Then, poor Saxon's "Baby is still-born. Woi-se still, Billy, who has turned to prize-fighting, to earn a few dollars .in the ring,'gots bftdly-beaten, and losing his nerve, assaults a completely'harmless lddger, .whose, money was. keeping the'home together, and gets six weeks in-prison. - Some;of-the most vigorous and effective chapters'in tho stdry-dcal/ with the hopeless mess which organised labour—how familiar is the term'to Now Z'oalanders of late—makes of the strike. Mr."London's slang is at times just a trifle" puzzling,, but; he : writes as one who knows the labour world of San Francisco at first-hand. Oiie of the charncters-Vppor fellow, he is killed in , a riot soon, afterwards —states the position' with terrible directness:— ■

"i'ou talk ..like an organiser," licet sneered, "but wo know different. Organised wages used to buy. They've got us whip-sawed. Look at 'Frisco,, tho labour leaders doin'

dirtier; politics than .tho old parties, . pawin' ail' squabblin' over lu,ral't an' goin' to Sail Quentin (the iStato prison), while—what arc tho 'Frisco carpenters doin'? .Lot. 1 me tell, you one thing, Tom Brown, if you listen to all you hear that

every 'Frirsrco carpenter is uuiou

ail' gettin' full union wages. Do you believe it? -It's a damn lie. There ain't a ca'rpipiltp'r that' don't rebate _ Ins tvaaes_ Saturday ' ni^ht,

to tlio contractor, Aw' that's your building trades in San .Francisco, while the leaders ate makin' trips to. Europe on the earnings - of tho tenderloin—when they don't cough if up to, the lawyers to get 'em out of wearin'.stripes."

Mr. London makes, these people really live before us. We follow them through courtship* evil fortune, until, despairing of making a. homo of their very own in tho. crowded city, where the struggle, for an -existence that shall be decent and reasonably-comfortable, is .so-much more -strenuous than most people who only know 'Frisco from alar can imagine. They push,. out into tho country, seeking that '.'Valley of the Moon" where honest toil shall rrv eeive just reward, where greedy "sweaters," and noisy labour agitators- alike-are not, and where tho pah' of disheartened city folk can ..find fair prospect of future comfort and happiness. Mr. .Loudon's pictures of life in -San Francisco are sometimes very ugly. He shows us. the city in the throes of a prosit strike, ho is unsparing of his satire and sarcasm at the expense of the "gold-bug" fraternity. On the other hgnd, lie dees not disguise the esisteu-eC'. of elements' amongst- tho • workers which make ' for mischief and downright evil. The story is an eloquent plea tor comitrv as against city life, but, tho burly" Biliy. and his delicate, but strong-willed, little wife, find that'the. path 1:o happiness, even when it'lies ill a country road, can still be thorn'-strewn. Heading through the linos- of'the last chapters one more easily; understands the -everincreasing jealousy and animosity with n hich the native-born American .re-, cards 'the' motley crowd of Asiatics-and Jow-grado Europeans with which -even rural California is over-rim. But '.'Tho. \ alley or the Moon'* is Kb mere political treatise in fictional disguise. The author,-'maybe,- is a Socialist—some of the; leading characters are avowed So* cialists—-but he never obtrudes his own views. The story, remains a story, and . r ?, a . rs . ma X accept my assurance tliat it is. a very' wholesome and interesting story of. rough and rugged life, maybe, but still of life.', No '". braver more -lovpable little woman hiive. I. Met in American fic.tiort than.; Bason,' and she folds-a true ami splendid mate m Billy Roberts, despite his marvellous slang, and the; handicap of an "artier environment'which would-have weifhed down for ever a man of less moral pluck and gnm resohitiou; "Tho Vallev of the Moon. is; decided]v a-novel tab" read.

THE ROCKS OF VALPRE. ' i 'Doll, whoso "Wav'of An Jiagle . and "A .Knave, of 'j)ia.moucls" 'have been so popular with novel readers, is equally successful inijcr fat* %, fc . stor.y ."'The ltoqb' of Vatpre" (risher Unwin). The heroine.' a .young English lady, siatas.tie Acquaintance, at a Breton seaside resort; or a young French officer, ami there is ■sooiv on both sides, an hhrrost pass ion!uo attachment. Caught by the incom•;iiK tide one ovening, the pair have to spend the night in a cave., a:i:i a most unfounded and very cnier construction is. placed : oh the'..circumstance by tbb peoplo of-thc. placc, and/ ljitcr on, eves i by the heroine's tvro iti-ost-objectionable examples of the- English' 'waster:". ,Tho yowig French officer is accused of having disclosed to a foreign power, the design of a' wonderful new gun. winch ho has iiivfeMte'd, and though ;qmt<s. innocent, •is tried,/ sentenced to a term of • and iriwocaWy. disgraced.- •So mno.ii as prologue. Heturning to England, Chris VVvjvdljiU'R meets and is loved bv a wealthy man, ..of a strong and fine.d)a'rh<;.tw, tot older •than-JiCTself; '?-Sh6 ; -icr marry him, although* l warning him of. ■'ft.'eertain family weakness of .Will which. sho goes well for a time, though • the brotb-.PVs-.'give trouble, ttncl the^'-..'suddenly,: tnerp reqppearstlifc. yotinjf.. o'fii* cer,- Bertrand do .■Jicaitvifie, whom the* good-bearted'' husband, nnawaro of tho .Vnlpro. incident;-• belriendsl ; and kls.es .into, his;housa as sccrotwy.. Toni between .gratitude .t<j his louofactor, and a revival of his ■ love for .' Chris, the young Frenchman ' finds liiniaif in a very .awkward po.sitimi. . The Wyiidham weakness, too, begins to crop up. in tlie wifo, arid on; her side tho struggle - bctWeceu wifely honour ami surrender to the.old attachment, is. intensely severe; • The:, "waster", brothers continue.- to play- ignoble parts, aii'd finally the story of tho Valpfe incident, which tllo. wife ' has weakly concealed from her husband, comes to his ear?. • What is tho effect of this . ftp-cm the thre® people chiefly concerned, - ; -ho«r . poor D.e Monty i lie's .life -history , owls. In. tragedy, . how, tlie long misunderstand-, ing'of her husband's rfjaractcr is emM; for Chris,:and how Bsuhial peace, .Coiili-. denoe, love, and happiness ■ cvinte' to a sorely tried phif, I must kaive it to my to. discover for.. themselves in tlie pages of Miss Pell's escolle-nt story. Chris, with*tier, pathetic weakness', of. character, t|ic . intensity of, her love, and her which triumphs over strong temptation is. a weiklrawn, convincing -figura. . Trevor- . Mordauiifc, her .husband, is drawn, perhaps,', - -on more conventional lines. Tlw' strong, reserved man, in whom passioii is- so . fierce, but always •. capable .of being ■ restrained, is ;i familial 1 figure in latter-day ftetkm; but Miss Dell has,given his portrait s.ome original and picturesque touches, which iiiake him stand well out of the ruck' of stieh ' characters. Tlie dialogue throughout, is full, of a fascinating brightness, and tho story as a; whole is replete with'a most refreshing vitality" and undeniable charm.: *

, , "COSLIMGS." There is-more than a mere touch cf FI. G. Wells in, ilr. J. D, Beresford's, story "Goslings" (William- Heinemaun; per George Robertson aad Oo,), but the Etory,. as a story, 1 is Hone the wdrs», for that. The Goslings are a fairly prosperous middle-elas3 Jeadiug all everyday, 'humdrum, hut not, 'on, the : whole,' unhappy-life jn a Landou 'suburb. . Suddenly in" thrt papers- appear reports of a hitherto-unknown form of pla'gne,'-"which first-breaks ,out in. Western. China. The. epidemic -spreads over, w'est'wards, Russia being the.first .Euro-pean-country- to -suffer.-' Its hideous deadliness—death -in forty-eight-, hours in almost every case, the total 'failure' of scientists to account for its'-origin ami character, and or the doctors to cayie with its horribly fatal effect's, cause' its very name to .be a. nightmare-to thepeople not yet.attac-ked- Sweeping ever Europe, it reaches lingla-nd and- Load-on, and practically.' wipes .'out almost the whole population, only a -mere' SiaiidM of,men being left, for, curiously-enough,' whereas some women nere never attack-, cd, it w-as a .rare'thitig for a man; to escape' the plague-fiend, and'-a -yet more rare event, for hiiii. to recover. Thenceforward - the sociological interest becomes dominant in t'ho story, which closes with the two leading characters welcoming a steamship full of people— mainly men—from America, wliieii conntry has been miraculously spared, and planning the foundation of a "new clean world," from which shall be absent, so it is. hoped, many of tile evils of the old social system. T inivo said the stoi# - recalls those-of Mr.- Wells.- - -This is so, but tiie author need fear no comparisons with i\lr. Wells on tho score of realism. There is a distinctly Defoelike quality in the description of London under tlio plague, a grim and yet quite convincing realism. I confess I do not quite grasp the-author's seeialogical point .of. viow, but "Goslings" is in many ways a quite 'rewarkablo story. ,

SHORTER NOTICES. It is good to ,have a new. book from '!Q". (Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch), even though.- it' bo oiil.v- a. c<ilkction of .stories* iind sketches which,, for the.-urost part,

have #lr«a(J£ appeared hi various magazines niid weekly newspapers. 'i i., title atone, ••'Xeirs l'"r6m the iWli.v" (George llefl and Sons; per Wliiteombe and Tombs) is alluring to those. wlw remember "Troy Town." Tim subjects display a fine variety, Here avo t;,ics ,; i "the »W smuggling days, inlcs of quaint old Cornish superstitions, talcs with a pleasantly-romantic flavour from across tins Channel, tales of humorous old salts, and equally Jsumnrous vagabonds, tales of West Country rural customs, tales, even, of quite latier-dav electioneering. All ■ breathe {he good old "Q" flavour, a- line, ripe, wholesome flavour of- quiet humour and quaint fancy, and a iriellow anil unpretentious philosophy. .

There must he some very amnshjg people in Ballydumpy, if vw are to believe all we read in Sadie Casey's very 'humorous hook, "Libby Ann'' (lioinomanii; per George, liotrertsan and Co.), and the heroine,.'the good-hearted, cheerfully frank, and quaintly-spoken little heroine, is a .decided addition to tl'O' long 'lino of humorous Irish -characters in fiction. , Lihby Ami plays tho. good angel to . not a few families in IJallydtunpy.-. niul 'although her almost maternal solicitude, for her friends'is not always appreciated by the fairer' sex, there is no laetj of masculine admiration. ; 'indeed, there is quite a long roll of aspirants before the heroine' tells Mr. Andrew M'Kvoy that she is "off to Father lle-aly to gao how soon lie can do us." Libbv Ann is hardly so eonviwcuig when s.he is "in service" with a Cockney, family,, but in Ballvdumpy she is- decidedly worth knowine. There is •some real good'inn in-Miss • Casey's story. -

Ostensibly some chapters from the life of a young Irishman, "George .Birmingham's" (Canon Hannay's) last Mivel. "Boftedict 'Kftvanagh" (ffodder and St-oughton; per S.-and'W. Mackay) is in reality a sort of general survey, in fictional form, of some of the most salient present-day. aspects of tho Irish problem, .Personally, J. prefer Canon. IJaiinay when .ha is in a humorous vein, but h.e -,is a bora storyteller, and the story of Benedict Kavasagb was well .worth' the telling The illegitimate son of flue of the" stalwarts of tit© old-Laud Leag&e, he is adopted and brought tip by relatives of his mother iii a pronouncedly Protestant arid Unionist- atThe -conflicting ..elements which spring from his blood, and his early training and environment, -aire cleverly contrasted-, and. as usual, with this' author, the subsidiary characters are strongly drawn. "Benedict Kavanagii" should be read by all who are interested in the Irish question,"

Cyril Harcourt's "The World's Daughter" (John Lane) is a literary., souiffet-, delightfully light slid piquantly toothsome'. ..Its. dominant note is its -•ultra-; is tho twentieth cen-1 t-ury spirit—tho spirit of youthful independence—sot -forth) not "with defiance | of Victorian traditions, Imt with tho] calm a.nd secure nssumptiou that it is I the, only , spirit possible in these up-to- i date tiwes': "Tho World's Daughter" is I simply 'tho story of tho ccmrtiiliip and i sham "Wneymoon" of acmipleefyoung; • and cheerfully irresponsible—up..' to a certain point—young people, 'five course 01 truo love suffers a check, but theauthor could not ba cruel efiough filially to deny -'happiness-to such a pleasant; pair as his hero and'heroine, and the honeymoon,, which had been merely played,'really takes plaoo after-all. At one stage the reader may fear that Mr, ■ Harcawt is about to-venture over somo remarkably thin ice. But- "what might have been'n serious accident.," tis. the, petiny-a-liHer. puts it, is. skilfully .avoided, and .Jerry and Ursula have, -nothing i vefy- serious to' reproach themselves with 1 when, tte'y go before one of. the . most original an^'dcli^htfut v '^%ift°ry''^t > «His''' to bo met .ivith. in recent fiction. The aiid .wit the. dialogue are ■ vastly- f^frp-Shiitg....-. .Very - x light, t ..very. !liright, ultrarmodenij an:l-, read..ill;tho 'right inciod,' Hvlioliy delightful, Is' "The ,'World's Daugliter."