New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-03-09
NEW NOVELS.

FANTASY Matde sera9 Iranslate6 from NTH, the
States Book Company.
NAME AND FAME. BY Adeline Sergeant and Ewing
Lester. 12mo, PIP. $50 ohlted states BOOK 'o'n-
pany.
A MYSTERY. From the French Of Madame Henry nnG
Greville by Anna Dyer rage. l2mo PIP. @'o'
Cassell PubshiSc Company.
MERRY MERRY BOYS. By b. L. Farjeon 1omo,
pp. I73. United States Book Company.
TWO SOLDIERS. AND DUNRAyEN RANCH. co. BY
PIP. 263. Philadelphia: J. Il. Lippncott Company.
TOLD AFTER SUPPER BY jerome X Jerome II
lustrated by Kenneth NJ. skeaping. 12mo, PIP
1862 Henry Holt Il Co.
Matllde serao is considered by many the first living
writer of fiction in the Italy OF to-day. Her novel
"Fanaso." here very well translated by Mr.. Harland.
gives a fair example of her quality. The story IS
neither idealistc realistic in form, but mngling
Of the two. The main subject is study of peculiar
nature a girl filed with exalted fances, living al
most in chronic historical state. imagining herself
a saint upon earth, yet all the time consumed by a
gross and masterful selfshness which subdues
everything to itself. The story follows the fort
OF this Lucia and her convent mate. Caterlna-
who is warm-h hearted. wholesome minded. natural
young woman never subject TO vagarles, CAIN
and placid, but full of real affection and capable of
any sacrifice Cacrina marries robust, healthy,
very animal man, who presently falls in love with
Lucia The study of this betrayal of trust and friend
ship is admirable. but by means pleasant reading
and the author often in the direction OF an excess
of petty details, which add nothing 10 the general
effect and friter away the interest. Lucia ends by
consenting to run away with Andrea, the husband
of her friend and with hypOcritcal professions
of despair upon her lips she does the worst one woman
can do TO another. Andrea is shlfully drawn. one
does not even feel contempt for him. so clearly is he
the prey of the seductive Lucias stronger, colder ana
more trcacherous nature The fate of poor Caterina
thus abandoned and deserted is terrible but not pro-
Anal cha I'm
knot for herself, are grimly powerful The whole
story is study in morbid mental pathology OF re-
markable force and acuteness, but 1t Is wanting IN
that which no true work Of art can LACK Namely
sweetness and light and herein consists its most
serious fault.
The Joint authors of Name and Fame' have tried
their hands at some very lnotty social problems ana
though solutions found in the novel; 1t Is eX-
tremely doubtful whether in actual life, the results
indicated would follow. A poet IS saddled Win
wicked wife of foreign BIRTH whoTS he can neither
live with nor shake off. lie falis III Io'c
with hgh-spirited girl who is an author
and he tells her his story. as in hohor oouhu'
The wicked wife purSues him, makes puDhc scalud!s
and scenes in the street and finally thrusS he!soii
into his rooms engages in quarrel, and stabs her-
self or is stabbed with dagger she had OroueV "
kill him with. The crcumstantial evidence Is dii
against the man, who is of course arrested ana trlei
The woman does not die but he is convicted of assault
the Jail broken in health and spirit his brave young
sweetheart takes him away to a country home ana
nurses him TO health again. OF course all her lrehus
are scandalized but she does not mind she mas
done nothing wrong, and when her frlend Is Wei sIc
lets him GO. Both have apparently lost name ana
fame but in the story both regain it, after fashoh
which we fear rests upon too optimistic an estmate
of the worlds judgments. This. however, Is n point
for the reader TO determine. As it stands the mover
is certainly highly interesting. well written anu
iraNr
people prone to fancy that the breaking OF conVeh
tions Is unattended with danger.
Madame Greve's latest story is not likely to re-
main "a mystery" to any veteran nOvel-reader VINO
goes as far as the end OF the first chapter, though an
evident effort has been made by the author to Keep
the very transparent secret. mat bridegroom |
should kill himself two hours after marrying the
woman he loves is in itself perplexing and that he
should be driven to suicide by an anonymous letter
NAV seem TO add to the obscurlty. But Madame |
Greville appears quite incapable of keeping
secret, and this is sure 10 be dlvihed
long before the comes in due course The
story as story is mildly but not highly Interesting
The people have little character, and what they have
is ldefined There however enough admirers OF
this lady's writings 10 made the translation worth
a publishers While.
Mr.. Farjeon does rot seem TO grow much. Merry,
Merry Bows has scarcely anything keeping with real
fe Its effects all produced in the old fashioned
happy golucky way which characteIizes fairy tales
You have poor but vrtuOus hero. Everything goes
wrong with him at home. so you send him on TO
Africa Australia. California, or India, and thence
YOU bring him back at the critical moment, million
aire You have "a wicked man with whom everything
prospers. IOu want to humiliae him, so You invent
a great speculative movement into which he plunces,
10 emerge the desired condition of paupersm. This
is the kind of machinery Mr. Farjeon employs, and II
be said that it has curously anuquated appear
* NJ ne V.
and although the end is after what used to be con-
sidered the orthodox manner, it has effect of reality
about 1t. Nor is the central idea original Two com
rades who have set their minds buying certain 4
house and property when they rich and who enter
into kind of rivalry for this purpose have been heard
of rather frequently before. IL is indeed variant Of
the Industrious and Idle Apprentices" and so veneer
able theme demands unusual treatment 70 give II an
air Of modernity. Mr.. Farjeon's methods however,
are ancient his topic, and the general result not
particularly brilliant
Captain Kings military stories are usually good and
always readable 1.-Two soldiers" is a tale Of two
types the manoeuvring shrk who is forever lodging
hard work and especially fighting yet whose
creates the impression among the unintisted that he is
the bravest Of the brave and the real fighter reucen
modest absorbed in his professional work never talk
ing what he has done, who hOnOrcd and admired by
his comrades is apt pass In society for officer Of
no mark or merit, simply because he refrains from
blowing his horn. in this story the blOwhaId
comes 10 deserved grief and the good fellow after
much disappointment, marries woman who certainly
is no tgood enough for him. "Dunraven Ranch" is
sketch Of garrison life in Texas with dash Of mystery
in it. 1t iS1tOd with animation, and has like its pre-
decessor, many pages Of brilliant description.
Mr. Jerome's "Tales Told After supper are bur
ssque ghost stories, supposed TO have had their origin
in a bowl Of particularly strong punch. SO powerful
is the alcoholic clement in them that the author APP
pears have been still affected by ii when he wrote
them down; indeed, the only humOr in them is that
false kind which owes its origin TO intoxication. Tile