Our Fortnightly Book Review

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 23, 18 December 1931, Page 40

Our Fortnightly Book Review

Demiemenmneaionsl MAPP AND LUCIA

By

E. F.

Benson

R. BENSON'S literary facility loses nothing as the years pass, his wit retains its mordant quality, and his gift for hitting the nail on the head in characterisation is arresting as when he electrified the novel-reading world by the creation of "Dodo." 7 In his latest book, "Mapp and Lucia," the plot is slight, but there are excellent portraits of denizens of a small provincial town ; and the struggle for social supremacy of the two female protagonists, their activities, strategic powers, and feline hypocrisy, are depicted with mirror-like fidelity and al! the penetrative detachment of a skilled psychologist, There is Emmeline Lucas, just emerging from eminently discreet ani becoming year of widowhood. With an assured income, ability to play Bach and Mozart, Italian patter, lust for leadership and gifts in acquiring objec_tive, she is an opponent more than equal to the predatory Dlizabeth Mapp, who. comes off second best in each encounter with the unscrupulous and attractive Lucia, a delightful humbug, full of feminine art and craft, subterfuge and dissimulation. Quite masterly are the thumbnail portraits of the entourage of the leading lady. There is the carpet-knight Georgie, the best-dressed man in Tilling, with his toupet, his croquet, and his dread of matrimony; quaint Irene, possessed of a low .but formidable weapon of mimicry; the clergyman who talks broad Scots but hails from Birmingham; and Mrs. Wyse, with her ostentatious M.B.H., her enormous Rolls Royce and sables in summer. It is the chronicle of the doings of a small society, told in a most unCranfordian manner. The annual exhibition of the Art Society is thus described: "From the Treasurer came a study in still-life of a teacup, an orange and a wallflower; the Secretary sent a pastel portrait of the King _of Italy, whom once in Rome she’d seen at a distance; quaint Irene had some sketches very strange and modern-a harmless but insane effort, entitled "Tilling Church by Moonlight," depicting a bright green pinnacle rising crookedly against a strip of purple sky and the rest of the canvas ebony black. There was also the back of someone with no clothes on lying on an emerald sofa; and, worst of all, there was ‘Women Wrestlers,’ Miss Mapp being forced to avert her eyes from these shameless athletes." And surely we know that jumble sale, with its contributions of an old kettle, a boot-jack, a rug with a hole in it and one stair-rod; one prosperous lady disinterred a pair of tongs, perfect except that the claws twisted round when one tried to pick up a lump of coal and dropped it on the carpet; another delightful donation being a scuttle with a hole in it, through which coal dust softly dribbled. We sympathise with Georgie, who disconsolately wandering round, comes across a large cardboard tray, holding miscellaneous objects with the label, "All 6d. each," and among the thimbles, photographs with damaged frames, and chipped china ornaments, discovers the watercolour sketch he had himself donated. Mr. Benson is subtly satirical regarding the two Platonic lovers, modern prototypes of the two in "The Statue and the Bust." "It had always been supposed that he was the implacably chaste but devout lover of Lucia. But now that her year of mourning was over, there loomed in front of Georgic the awful fact that there was no earthly reason why he should not claim his reward for those years of devotion, and exchange his passionate celibacy for an eyen more passionate matrimony. It was an unnerving thought. that before the summer was over he might have the right to’ tap at the door of communication and say, ‘May I come in, darling?’ The words would freeze on his tongue." It is all wildly amusing. and the end sheer brilliant farce. By catastrophie war of the elements, the rival social aspirants are whirled from safety, on the waters of a flood, into the unknown. Tilling, outwardly mourning, is thrilled to the marrow by drama of the situation, and after decent interval of awaiting news of the lost ones, builds a cenotaph to their memory. holds impressive memorial service, and delightetdly grasps unexpected bequests. In the midst of this chastened rejoicing, however, the wanderers return, still unreconciled, the story of the reactions of friend and "foe being in the best comic tradition. It is delightful fooling, and a welcome . contribution to the gospel of gaiety. ;