A LITERARY CORNER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8355, 15 February 1913, Page 10

A LITERARY CORNER

Edited by “Liber.”

SOME RECENT FICTION TWO NEW “AMERICANS.” TVo,,,ncw American novels, both by authors of established reputation, are “Fate Knocks at the Door," by VVi.l Lovmgtoa Comfort (J. P. lappmgcott and, C 0..; per George Robertson and Co.); ancJ “The Postmaster,” by Joseph Lincoln (D. Appleton and. Co., per George- Robertson and Co.). Air Comfort, made a decided hit with his vigor-ously-written'. story, ; 1 Routledgo Rides Alone,” and in his new story exhibits tho same ability lor devising and describing a situation of great dramatic force, ■ Tho hero, Anarew Bedient, is a young_ American who is first introduced as a cook on a sailing vessel in the China Silas. Young Bedient exporienoes some clarions and sensational adventures in t.ho FhiUipines, in Japan, and the West Indies, ending up , in Now York, where ho mixes' in Bohemian society and wins the love of a clever young lady artist, Belle Truba. Mr Comfort’s stylb ; is just a trifling too flamboyant for me., It© pours out perfect avalanches of ' words, and at times this literary luxuriance is apt to confuse tho reader and impede and detract from the interest of the narrative. , When; too, he describes young Bedient's vessel as a smart clipper of sixty, tons burden, which had “swung down to Australia ■ aud New South Walee”'“(sio-)- Ji a«HJ-"Caihsd -at- -ha-lf—th©-Asiatic and insular ports from Vladivostock to Bombay,” amd then later on refers ‘ to this "clipper of sixty ■ tons”' as carrying ’a crew of some twenty-two men, one is sipt to suspect either careless or equally careless- proof-reading.. A novelist'.who affects such » decidedly Cosmopolitan pose,, should, too, know better than to write, more than once, of “Adelaide, Now South Wales.” But despite its many faults, tho story is possessed of undeniable .originality and force. Especially stirring, are tho pictures of Life on an island in the Caribbean Sea, where’’ lives’ a piratical old Spaniard who plays a very prominent part in tho BedientiniT rorcanno. Those who remember* Mr Lincoln’s ’ "Captain Eri,” “Cy Whittaker’s Place,” and that most amusing story, “Cap’n Warren’s-Ward,” will welcome another good yarn of tho quaint mannered and quaint spoken- “Cape Cod Folk,” from whom this author has drawn so many excellent characters. THo' principal.' figure- in- Mr Lincoln’s ' latest, story, “The Postmaster,” is a retired' manner, Cap’n Zebulon Snow, WhOy" having reached' the. ago of fortyaighfr retires to’ the little Now England seaport town of Datable, and buys a-sham in a general store, with which i» combined the; local post office. Cap’n 2>eb is a real good olci-fashioned “Down faster,” and his quaint, dry hnmpnr, his unfailing, gcod nature and rugged common’ sense soon make him a favourite with- Mr Lincoln’s readers. Cap’n Zeb speculates in -various enter- - prisee ; and* rneete with ,some very curious - experiences, eventually, nob only making a great success of ‘his store, but 'succeeding in’ inducing hia assistant ill the- post offleo work, a young U>.dv* to join him’ in - a matrimonial venturer. The- story is replete with humorous incidents, narrated with all Mr 'Lincoln’s <>ld vigour, and as in - hi:» earlier storiles, the novel is rich in it, character sketches. A good, wholesome, light* and most entertain-ing-story. ■’ A YORKSHIRE LOVE STORY. Mrs BUckroso,. whose capital story, “DbwiT Our Street,” found so many admirers’ a yeai‘ or* so ago, now gives it art oxcofieirt successor in “The Browns”' (Mills and Boon, per George Robertson' and Co.). As- in Mrs Buckrose’s- previous’ stories, the scene is laid 1 in a’ Yorkshire town, this time “Elodmouth,” tho heroine being a young lady, Margaret Brown, whose people dto but poorly off. Margaret goes tb Visit a stingy and eccentric, biit Well-to-do old spinster aunt, who, it was always understood in the Brown family, was to leave her money to her - poorer sister. Unfortunately, the oJq fady, in whqm there is a strain of most. un-Yorkshire like snobbery, suddenly makes a new. will, leaving all her money to Margaret’s cousin, Gerald Brown, the son of a supposedly wealthy man. Driven almost out of her reuses at tho idea of her poor mother being left out in the cold, Margaret, when called, upon to witness the now, iwiU, opd told with brutal cruelty by tho old lady where tho money is to go, team np aud burns tho document nght before tho old lady’s taco. Before a flew will can bo made, tho aunt dies Tory suddenly, and by a previous will the fortune is found to have been left to Margaret. For a time the latter gives her mother every luxury, and dote hot regret her act. Then she meets Gerald, by this time almost pon- . nileas, and falls in love With him. flow . the Story ends I may not say, but Mrs BuckfOso may bo congratulated upon i £ conclusion as ingeniously conceived &<i it Will be highly satisfactory to most readers of this pleasantly told and very entertaining novel. WITH A GRECIAN BACKGROUND. Mr Bohun Lynch, tho author of “Glamour” '(John Murray, per Whitcombe find Tonlbs), is, 1 think, a now writer. If “Glamour” be a first novel, it is one Which displays rich promise, being at once most original in its plot, picturesque in its background, and, in places, containing some quite markedly Clover dialogue. It relates tho adventures in Greece, both on tho mainland and in one of the outlying is...Udß, of a young Englishman of good ■ - 1 ; .y and education, one John btrelvviio revolts against tho couveua.itios of English litc, and goes out ...lu us, : nominally to teach EngImt in reality in search of advenlie soon makes some curious ; not always very reputable ac- . onutalices, including a villainous . n-oeit liiorohant, one Latnbi V or.ilu, c ,inist whom, by tlie way, ho had etoci warned by an old friend, an eo miitrie English traveller and archaeologist, uualed Hull. But Yeraki has i lovely niece, Chrysoula, and despis- ■ mg all warnings, Stroliio penetrates to in out-of-the-way valley in Thessaly, where tho peasants have revived the Worship of Pan and indulge in horrible pagan rites. In Ysiludi Strolhe, who is soon joined by Hull, finds Chrysoula again and moots with the must sensational experiences, Yeraki proving himself tho “first villain” Of a most exciting drama, but failing in the and to prevent Stfellie’s marriage with the pretty niece. It is-,difficult to con* ,Tfty k m suoh brief space as is at my disposal the fascination of Mr Lynch’s in every way most original and admirable story. The Greek background is delightfully fresh and picturesque, and

although the , Ypsiladi incidents art occasionally rather gruesome, there u no exaggeration, and tho occult is al most as cleverly suggested as in the weird stories of Mr Algernon Blackwood. “Glamour” is well worth ingin curious contrast to Air Lynch’s story of Greece of to-day is Mr Bo Vero ijtacpooie’s clever reconstruction of everyday life in ancient Athens, in liis latent novel, “ Tho Street of the Flu to Player” (John Murray; per Whitcombo and Tombs). On the title pago runs tho inscription: “ Year —the year of tho first production of 1 The Frogs’; Time—tho grape harvest.” ■That Air Stacpoolo is richly dowered with tho imaginative gift was proved by< his beautiful.story “ Tho Blue Lagoon.” . In.,his latest book he comes forth as tho writer of historical romance, daring much by treating of a period so far back as that of Athens in the days of Aristophanes. The story not only possesses an excellent plot—though many readers will regret with mo tliat its close should be on a tragic note—but it is rich in characterisation, and richer still >in its glowing local colour. Air Stacpoole shows us the people of.ancient Athens at work and 'at play, describing the life of rich and poor alike in all their everyday occupations. The “ Street of tho Flute Player ” is not only a fine story as a story, but it is a brilliant piece of literary craftsmanship in tho ease and vraisemblance of its reproduction of the manners and customs, habits and amusements of a bygone age. A CORNISH TRAGEDY. _ What is there, 1 wonder, in tho Cornish atmosphere which seems to drive every novelist who takes tho West ‘country for a background to strike a dominantly tragic note? How seldom do wo get a Cornish novel in which there is not a strong element of grimness. Here, for instance, is Mrs Lilian Arnold’s story, “Tho Storm Dog” (John Long, per Whitcombo aim Tombs). It is an exceedingly wellwritten story; indeed, in parts the author comes near positive brilliance, her work being, to my mind,' superior to that' of John Trevena, and approaching almost tho piano of; Eden Philpotts. Rut the drama of Nancy Denzil’s marriage to the egotistical, selfish and brutal old Parson Rosevean, who “wants someone to refoot ins half-hose,” Is too unrelievedly tragical. It was a marriage doomed to end-in unhappiness; indeed, for poor Nancy her seven years of “Smug respectable nastiness,” “seven years of an eternal washingday level,” wore bound to end in revolt. It was to save her cousin Dick, to save the home of . her family, that she had consented to her self-sacrifice, she had gone into tho bargain with her eyes open. But the price became too bitter as the years went on, and so, one dark night, she goes out of the parson’s house for ever —and the rest is unrelieved tragedy. The repulsive parson is overdrawn; it were surely impossible such a brute were over found in Cornwall or elsewhere. ' But Nancy Denzil is a figure not easily to bo forgotten. Mrs Arnold spoils her later chapters by a certain touch of mere melodrama; but with all its faults “The Storm Dog!’ is one of the .best novels that Mr Long has published for some, time past. “SMART” AND SILLY “SOCIETY." There would seem to he no end to the writing otf" novels dealing with the folliea ami vices of the so-called “smart” society of England. Here this week are two such books, “Eve— Spinster” (Mills and Boon) and “Atfairs of Men,?’ by D. C. F. Harding (John Long), both per Whitcombe am. Tombs. In e ach we have depicted the useless, too often vicious life of the idle rich. We read of their elaborate menus, of their “motorin’ ” ano “huntin’,” and bridge playing, ana also of the contempt of so many ol them for decent morality. This sort of book may please some people, bin to mo it makes very dreary reading. After all, the idle, deliberately vicious )‘smart” set is out .a contemptibly small section of English society. Then are, thank goodness, tens of thousands of English men and women of the so called upper classes who are leading decent, useful lives. The aristocracy is no inoro generally vicious than tin democracy- It is not only in Pan. Lane that tho marital tie is disregard ed. Such books as these give a very false view of English society as a whole. To me they are inexpressibly tedious. How such ’ unmitigated “piffle” at “Eve —Spinster” ever came to be accepted by a publisher I cannot under stand, and why this class of novi should always hud its way into colo nial editions when so many really goon novels are not Included in these seiieiS another mystery. SOUTH AFRICAN SENSATIONALISM. Yet another of Air Bertram Alitford’s weirdly exciting South African stories, “ Searord’s Snake," cornea from Ward, Lock aud Co.; per S. and W. Mackay. Once again this clever compounder of sensational fiction takes his readers amongst the Zulus, the Zulus in revolt, the Zulus in war-time. But tho chief interest of tho story _ lies in tho extraordinary power which Seaford, the hero, is able to exercise over snakes. This power he has learnt from a famous Zulu witch doctor, a native tohunga, who is specially skilled in snake-craft, Seaford puts his power to somewhat curious uso. Suspecting a friend of becoming too intimate with his wife, the husband brings the snakes into play with dramatic effect. As usual with Mr Mitford, the South African trader of tho “back-block” settlements is a prominent figure, and tho novelist’s pictures of tho rough but picturesque life of Zululand and the interior generally aro vigorously painted. Air Alitford must have written a good score or so South African stories in his time, but “Seaford’s Snake” certainly -exhibits no falling-off in the novelist’s powers of imagination and capacity to construct a thrilling plot.