New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-02-03
NOVELS.


TARANTFILA A Romance BY MArIILDE BLIND.
i6mo pp. 4ss. Roberts Brothers
Mr. Uowes second novel Is net as good as his
first bnt IL is interesting, effective, and amusing.
We saw it is amusing, because the humorous ele-
ment in it is strong and original; but the story is
tragic aud the same gloomy atmosphere hangs over
IL which pervadcs {" The Story of Country Town.
In this book as in the other the scene is laid in
wrctched, sordid and hopeless community, village
in which the decrepitude Of age and decay has
oyertaken the rawness and poverty of unprosperOus
youth. DAVIS Bend is disappointed rlver-town,
ruined NV the sudden growth OF Ben's City. further
down the stream. Empty houses are tumi'ling 10
decay 90 it's muddy and neglected Streets ana tne
.,,oonIe who have not been able to move away are
ouerulous and disheartened There is something
patbetic in the life of such town. although IL Is so
hopelessy mean and common and nobody mas ever
described II so finely as Mr.. Howe. He seems to
take melancholy delight i'll making real 10 us inc
vuloaritv. the squalor the mental and moral stag
nation of a type of American society when mas
n,obahlv no paralel in the world-for the purposes
nf fiction he NAV be called its discoverer he de-
scrbes il with evident personal feelings but 1t IS
enthusiastically American trait that he has Keen
sense of the drOll side of the CASE an unaffected en-
ioyment of whatever is ludcrous IN failure, shaDDl-
ness. pretence and littcness. The village loaiers
and ndalmongers, the insuferable professors OF
counterfeit piety. the base-minded country editor
who lives by pufiery while he is always medltatng
q general outbreak of personal scandal and scathhg
exposures are sllctched with an admirable art III
which farce and satire are almost equally conspleu-
ous. AS in Mr. Howes first book. there is marked
fondness for the grotesque, and one OF the person
ages in this line, Tug Whittle is most fortunate
creation There are many touches in the pOrtralture
of this amusing and dsreputabe drunkard which
remind us of Dickens but the resemblance is IN the
manner of treatment rather than IN the ldea ana IS
not enough to destroy the originality of the concep
tion 1t is favorite fiction of Tugs that he has
been ruined by his wifes relations although as a
matter of fact, she has no relations. Z" lhe reia-
tions have my money" he remarks, ana nave
their bad habits. -. was polite man until my
wifes relations made mo selfish. We always had
gravy when they we're around, and good gravy at
that but by the time had helped them all there
was none left for me. l now help myself first.
Will the Prince pass the Pauper the fresh bottle OF
rum ~ This is quite i'll the Dickens manner; so IL
the concet of Tugs Unmatched eyes; SO is the de-
scription of his laugh: "When Mr.. Whittle smiled,
il was such an unusual proceeding that his scalp
had habit of crawling over toward his face to take
q look which it did in this instance. and then went
back to its old position at the top of his head"
But tho, imagination to which we are indebted for
the invention of lug Whttle has so much strength
literary STYLE need not annoy us. That Mr.. Howes
fertility in the production of characters is not ex
haustel the story shows on every page Inc
scene is like that of his first novel but the actors
are almost entirely new and the variety ana
abundance of a full and fresh mind continually
surprise us.
The serious defects of the book are in its motive
and construction. Biglmy and murder are the IN
cidcnts upon which the plot depends, and both
tlnrn fhnt nN fr1-
ordinary lack of moral sense which we observed in
The Story of a Country Town. When it comes
TO questions of right and wrong, Mr. Howe seems to
he in n hopeless muddle; habby sentiment takes
the place of fixed rules of conduct; and we have a
futile and feeble attempt to reconcile crimnaIty
of action with nobility of character The relations
of the sexes an the sacredness of human lie are the
two points upon which our civilization falls most
short OF the ideal standard; and perhaps we need
not wonder at 1t when we see how badly a bright
man like Mr. Howe stumbles at just these points
The management of the plot is hardly more vigor-
ous than the grip of the morals. and we suspect
that in the excitement of his first success the
author hurried the book to press before he had care
fully worked it out. There are some brilliant
scenes and the dialogue OF the eccentric person.
aces is always sprightly; but the action Is often
melodramatic. and the serious passages between
Doris aud Alice are pretty heavy COMPOSITIONS.
Mr. Howe has distinguished ability. For his next
novel let him take time.
Miss Blind has been fortunate IN the choice OF
materials for her romance, and not quite expert
enough in using them. The foundation OF the story
is the supersttion still lingering in southern Italy,
flat the only curefoT the bite OF the taran ua TO
make tho patient dance until exhausted to the
sound of exciting music beautiful peasant girl
near Capri is saved III this way by young German
yiolinist he tdrdRteta which the ARTIST lpOvlses
in the frenzy of tie moment Is an inspiration OF
genius: it becomes the foundation 81 his fame as one
of the greatest musicians of Europe, ana about ITS
performance centre some If the dramatic incidents
of the story. The future of Emanuel, however,
becomes ineXtricably INTERVIEWED with the fate OF
the ri AntOnella is a passionate AMIN IL VINO
grows more and more sensual and dangerous after
she has tasted the uxuries of dress, I'd .eness and
adulaton and the tragedy with which the romance
ends arises from the collision between her and a
simple and true-hearted German grl III Emanneis
native town. The descriptions of the artists
musical career contrast effectively with the
pictures. sometimes chaIningiy ldylc, but some
times little too sordldly real of life IN small Ger
man town: and the narrative chapters, especially
the account of the origin Of the iGrGRteiiQ are
highly animated and often brilliant The interest
of the book, moreover, rises steadily. and the
writer's Imagination seems more than equal TO all
the varied demands upon it, The dialogue Is not
Courses to his sweetheart OF Plato the Cosmos and
the arche-type embodied in tho soul; ana the
peasants of Capri talk no peasants ever talked
except on the stage of the Italian Opera. worse
fault however, is certain lack OF decacy In |
come of the situations, and want OF moral FIBRE |
In the treatment of the questions of higamy. The
manner in which Nina on her weddlngeve re- |
ceiyes the announcement that the man she is about
TO marry probably has wife already, is unreined |
IA well as artisticaly false while the predica |
meut of Emanuel AntOneila and Ogotshki in Paris |
is revolving.