SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 127, 22 February 1919, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION.

THE LATEST WELLS NOVEL., "Whoof!" Emulating the niovft-ov loss famous j\l iv britling, Ihave' "seen ' it through," 'to the extent' of..seven'hundred aud forty-eight liases, "it" beinir Mr. It. G. Wells's latest novel, "Joaii'iiud Peter" (Cassell and Co., per S. and' W. Mackay). I do not, liko Oliver Twist,' as for "more" after such' a. Gargantuan literary repast, for even my delight in anything . and everything Jlr. Wells may write has a limit prescribed, by -some., regard for my powers of lilernry .digestion; Considering Jlr. Wells litis such .a

prnTounfl' ..contempt for. mid-Victorian methods, it is, curious lie should now prove himself ii.s long-winded us could In* Thackeray and Dickons mid TrollopiV

—iiml for tlio lultor .J can.quite, imagine' ■ Mr. Wells having u most profound scorn. Not since the lute William do Morgan wrote.. 'Tt (Inn Never' Hanpe.ii 'Again" liavo. wo-liikl a novel of sucli portentous length as "loan and I'etor." In if Mr. Wells ostensibly sets fi.rth to recount the story of the childhood, youth/education, . lovo ; passages, and maltiago. of as completely delightful n pair, of 'young people .as I have ever met willi.in . fict;iDD.' .But -Mr. .Wells is, nowadays, .first and foremost a ..publicist, I dislike tlio .word, hut it (diall serve, as being preferable to. poleniist., which is frnnlclv detestable. He is "oui" to prove thnt' England's pre-war. s.vslem. of education was radically, ridiculously, grotesf|iioly. .wmng-liemled, stupid, ami cfl'olo. To this oiiil. lie. utilises the struggle, of ail exceptionally intelligent' man, tho children's guardian, |o discover nnKii':.lish school where his wards may be taught" on some really intelligent' system. Mr. AVells rides' his'educational liobbv horse (in a very, long journey—on a series of journeys, in fact, for wlien .Toan and Peter liave to go to. a university ive have a new anil almost, fero- , cious attack : on Victorian methods,, and (lie-Oxford doiis are ruthlessly satirised, Somo readers of liis book there may. bo who would fain liavo him "cot" I lie (educational) cackle, and come, to llio." osses," tlio "'osses" being the delightful love stor.v which lie unfolds willi such delicacy, charm, and convincing realism; Hut Mr. Wells is , as ever, tremendously, in earnest. He regards the novel as'a me- I dinm , for;.convoying to ii- puolio which would fly from rt pamphlet or.-formal trcntiso on education, on the Anglican C-huri'Ju.pn the Trish.question, on. African Imperialisms, on .the ivar.'iis they-would fly from a fiernian bomb. And so", in this new book of his, liens'just the same old Mr. AVells, laying down the law, through tho mouths of his various characters, on all manner.'of thorny modern problems,, ever provocative and sometimes—to some readers—positively exasperating, but always interesting and suggestivo. The character drawing is excellent, save perhaps .in that grotesque Tigiiriv. Lady Char- • lotto, where it is pure caricature. Peter is a fine young Englishman' of the essentially modern typo;' Joan, , his '-foster-' sister,-'and, finally, his lovo' rnd wife, is simply delightful. The guardian, aii ex.•naval: man,'a V.G., a retired liast' African administrator, with his iinpatienco of and contempt for- an England'which lie finds laggard and inefficient, grown fat and lazy,; but an England' still; As- lie 'is to 'discovor—or the; war for-liiin—as full of splendid force, aiid stamina as : she was in the-spacious'Elizabethan days,, is equally convincing.. As for the 'two '•maiden' aunts, the Misses Pybus, and the host of young-men and women' who ore the friends of the hero, and heroine, Mr. Wells has never'given' us a, better .collection' of cleverly etched portraits. No other English novelist.can surpass .■"Mr. Wells'.in giving, us a -telling snapshot of 'ft type. 'Sometimes',, it is tr.n.e, '.tho; portrait is ill-natured and savours', of.Caricature— th« author is still, I ..notice,-besot by. the .idea . that . every Anglican, parson .must foe a.bont fool—but'tlio teniptation to., .over the snapshots is' irresistible. Thus, of a Bolicmian literary gathering:— . •■ ■

Bin quite a lot. of writers -came. And in addition there were endless conspirators.. Thero was -Mra. O'Grady, tho beautiful Irish patriot, who -waß 'always dressed like a procession of Hibernians in New York; and'-there was Patrick- Lynch, a long-,-lax,, black object; l ending below in largo dull boots, and above in- a. sad white face under wiry.-, black hair; grieving over that grief for Ireland—"Cathlcen-in Houlihan" and all. the. rest .of..it—that, only ■thcße.long black'lrishmen can understand. And thero was Eric.Schmidt-, who.was'rare amongst Irish patriots because of his . genuine knowledge of. Erse. - All these were great conspirators.... .Then there was itrs; Sunk, who' had "hunger-struck" three times,'-and Misa Corcoran'-Dceping, the incendiary. And American Socialists.'. And .young Indians. And one saw 'the-vener-able figure of Mr. Woodier, very old now and white and deaf, and nervous and-in-distinct; who had .advocated .. in several beautiful aiid poctical little volume's a new morality that would 'have' put tho •wind up'of the cities of the Plain. ~ . Towards the close of tho book we get the war, and Peter becomes an aviator (ami Joan a ivtt cliau.ffeua>); ami Mr. Weils again shows how, in aviation technology, lie can give points even to Mr. Kipling himself. And' (hero n'ro Russians, and yomig'lndiriiisi'and, of co'ifrso, some.very Hosty . things are .paid of Sir '..Ed.wairil Carson . and Lloyd George, and .. Mr. Hughes. It is the same old Mi-. Wells in the same'old .rolo of the Superior Person lecturing everybody, hectoring not a little, sneering , too in an rtcidulaled way at English institutions, and yet in 111 is. survey of the wwld not finding, after all, anything very much better! to put in. tliei.r .place, There,is, for instance, n quite angry attiqk.'on 111011j arcliv, and a picture of John : Dull and Cousin Jonathan coming together , in--a permanent ..and 'brotherly, friendship oneo. (lie r monarchical system . 011 -tlio European side of the Atlantic, disappears. 1 It -is n, terribly long story is "Joan and l'oter," a story full of things which will annoy many readers, a ; story the narrative pure and. simple ofwhich .is being continually interrupted - by long ■digressions'of. the lazy sermon .type.-' But now lliat I have /'-wrnstled" with it, as Bret ITnV.te's miner "wrnstlcd"-with the camp baby's .finger, I would -not have it one tinge'the shorter," And, please the pigs, I hope,, some of these days; to read it right through again. Luily Keycs.'wife of Admiral Si'r Eoger Kevi'S, actcd as a moid of honour at the wedding of one of her servants;; and a sailor.' Sir ftoger gave away the bride and-signed-tho register. . •