SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 6, 2 October 1920, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION

"Potterism." ■ v ; Mfes' Rose .Macaulay's "Potterism" (W. Collins, Sons, and Co.) is a brilliant satire.,on!'jiipre. than one social influence, 'problem,' and folly of the day. It is none the less a successful satire in that the author. only, flicks but. never flays. Hers aro not the .methods of Swift, or, since latter-day 'comparisons are 'best un-derstopd-yof Ajia.tole- «'France. Her satirical r 'picture of. tlie r Yellow Press," with which-her book is mainly concerned, is never ovor-coloured; it remains-as'play-fully as it is ingeniously pointed and skilfully, detailed. -The story is of the.Potter .family:" Potter pere is the! founder and proprietor ■of the . Potter group of Newspapers and'.periodicals, the motto of whose proprietor ,and: , conductors- is ' •to give' tho .people, what they want, to ■ make.--.money. .'without troubling as to the" morality or otherwise of the, methods pursued, ;;Potter pere finds so,:feucc6ssfnrthat it provides him .'with ,& 'fortune and peerage. Mrs, "Potter, later" on" Lady Piiikerton," as ' /'Leila .'Yorke,"..v-'is'' "best • :seller"- ! .>lhdy novelist, ,who : 'deals' in .cheap'morolisings' . 'and 'saccharine sentiment,-, Of' the -' two ■'' Potter girls, - Jane, selfish, cold and' spoiled, mairies the editor of one of the Potter papers, '.Oliver' Hobijct, In time she •» becomes mightily bored, and turns for distraction ,to> philandering frith a very . -different type : of man, . Arthur Gideon, an Anglicized Jew, of .Russian extraction who "edits "an -"anti-Potterism" weekly,'and is regarded by- Lord and Lady :3?inkorton Vith' the most . profound distrust s 'JVith Hobart, 'strangely enough, Jrfne's, sister, Glare; is deeply in love, and, when, after in quarrel with Gideon;; the . liusband 'falls'- down -a stairoase 1 and.' breaks his neck,', there is a allround ; :: mistinderstanding. r ' For'.- the elder sister suspecta Gideon of ;having pushed the uiii'o'rtunato Oliver down the staircase and Gideon suspects Jano. :'Afl a mattro.of fact it is Clare who has been ..the .Sausft',. of 'the fatal accident, 'ftag^dy, daunts the■ story to'the end,.for after marrying Jane Gideon goes to Rus-, 61a aiid is murdered by the revolution- ■ lines:' " 'All' 1 thie- may convey th© . im/prpssiOtt' tM. tho story is mero melodrama,''whioli would be a 6ad mistake. Ilie ' -dramatic,- the tragic, incident,, is after .all of , minor importance as compared Villi' the real motif of the book, the ■'clover penetrating analysis of the' Potter Pr&s anii!'; : its ' ittaligna-ntly.' :miscliievous influence upon the community. , A few weeks: ago., 0.. «lefiriitinu of Potterism, as given by one of the charac-ters-t>f tho story, was quoted in these' oolumns. Siiffioe it to-day to express the present writer's opinion that airs.- Rose Macaulay -hafl- .written in "Potterism" que oi. the most, pxengent a-nd ■brilliant " certain latter-day influences . that we have had since the close of, tho : witsi: >. "Potterism"- is a book . to/ bebought'for keeps."Ann's! First .Flutter/' , Exactly why I have never Ijeon able Ito understand, French novelists have 'always idepicted grocers' «s 'very 6tupid -people. "L'osprit epicier"—the "grocer spirit"—is a recognised synonym ivitlx. our Fronoh friends for - mental clumsiness and.-'a' pettyfogging meanness . . of general-'outlook ' But there is no Teason that.l can 'see-why a grocer should' hot bp just as good and sensible.a mem•ter of the community as anyoni> else. It is 'true' : Mr. Chesterton: once deliver"ed himself-qf a rhymed denunciation of the grocer; .but that was, it has been', shrewdly suggested, -because, the grocer .sells cocoa,'.and cocoa to Mr. Chesterton ■ ,r —who' : ' fylFpiit. with- a certain-firm of ; cocoa ,manufacturers who_ are interested in"a certain' London daily for- which -wrote—i 3 a detestable com--pound. - -But; even Mr. Chesterton would,-1 think, agree with me-that'the-.grocer'folk, we meet in-Mr. K. A.-;H<im- ' blin's 'very amusing story, "Ann's First Flutter" .(Allen and. Unwin) are- not only very,, "decent", but almost lovable •peoplo;. The heroine of Mr; Hamblin's' aovol-'. is ;'Ann Tottle, ' daughter ■of a :grocer; -in a- suburban: district. Ann wins a position- dn th© Post Office, but j loses-it'-.through'the jealousy and spitel.of a., .very "oattish" lady ' doctor' , whom elfe has unwittingly, affronted, and yho spreads'a.scandalous story about the girl. ' Ann carefully oonceals the cause of her dismissal from her worthy parent —quite a Dickensian character this latter —gets other employment and falls in love •.with a young man, Angelo Bnmpflcld, whose father had intended him to be an ornament of the grocery trado. But Angelo . has literary ambitions, writing a noyiil,., "Thie Bridge of' Death," wHich is harshly treated by some unapprCciative reviewers.. ; The young people find, however, a staunch friend , in Ann's rich ■ 'uncle, a retired tea . planter, and Angelo having found remunerative scope for his literary talents in writing' "descriptive" articles for the "Grocery Trade Gazette," happin!eS9 is ensured for .the young couple. Mr; Hamblin has a vivacious style, and liisl picture'' of-, these simple- folk is full of 'ah.'.engaging humour which reminds me not a' little of that which makes Mr. Pett Ridge's .novels so amusing. The descriptions of leveryday life in the'central post office, where' Ann is first employed, are in particular very well done, red tape methods feeing very happily satirised. A wholesome and very amusing novel. - ■ "War Lords vf Mars," Mr. : Edgar Rice Burroughs, the ingenious, creator of, the now famous "Taran," has an excellent second string to his bow in ,his Virginian, liunfer and explorer hero, the-reil'oubtable John Carter, whose ad- ; ventures: on..Jlars the American. author •has already • made the subject of . two highlv'Sensational and'exciting romances. In "The-War Ixirds of, Mars" (Methuen arid Co.),'the heroic Carter is once again to the fore,-.the'third instalment of...liis adventures amongst tlip Martians,' more particularly, that weird racc, tlib Bar•soomians, being generously provided with . wonders;,.to ,>vhich 'those, imagined by that •favourite-of our youtli,'M. Jules Verne, were simjilicity itself, .whilst in "thrills" the American efiually surpasses anything that -not only Jules. Verne, but even Sir Ri<Vr Haggard lias provided. Readers of the new story, will .'follow with- breathless interest—that' is, bien entendu, if their, literary a-ppetites favour this kind, of fare—the astounding exploits, miraculous escapes, and Berserker-like deeds of drrring do" ! which J[r.'Burroughs allots to his hero, whom he leaves in thi last chapter ' not only' "Prince of Helium," But "Jedalt of Jeddaks, War Lord _ of Bar,soo'ni." JfT. Burroughs is certainly Rifted yrith an exceptionally' rich -imagination,'■ „and his,easy -readab!i> "style adds much to the success of. his wonderful stories. '