The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-04-24

What has been heralded as the longest
and most ambitious novel of that singu-
larry disappointing writer, Robert
Hichens, comes to us in nightmare dress
from II. S. Stone & Co., Chicago. 1t is
called Flames" and is indeed the longest
of it's autl orS works; but when that is
said, the fulfilment of the prophecies
cease Flames does not compare with
"An Imaginative Man; it sustains no
such notes as were sounded in 1.-The
Follies of Eustace;" it is hardly to be pro-
nounced worthy of the pen that gave us,
| in timely sarcasm that satire on the de-
| cadent fad THE Green Carnation." In
| ii Mr.. Hichens has attempted to deal with
occultism and has failed; has sought to
| build a wreath of sentiment about the
sodden vices of modern London after
dark, and the, wreath has witherCd and
shriveled in the mcrbifc atmosphere.
! Only at times is Flames" interesting.
There are bits of de scripticn and touches
! of power that reveal genius, but like the
] subject of the novel, they are tittul, and
! flicker and fade ere their rays are seen.
In brief the scheme of the story is this:
/ Two young Londoners, of the wealthy,
do-nothing class, represent opposite
/ types. one, Valentine, is intellectual,
calm, slightly critical, by nature free from
! inclination to vice and called 1.-The saint
! of Victoria street" The other, Julian,
| is intensely human, strong in temptation
and in passion, and capable, when started,
of the greatest eXcesses These two
young men become great friends, and
Valentines negative purity acts, without
his knowledge, as a check on JGlian's
proneness to self-indulgence. But it be-
falls that each yearns for the others
nature, and so, after certain spiritualistic
hocus pocus, they decide to trade souls.
! This decision is abetted by one inordin-
ate friend Mari, who, just as the trade Is
about to be made, dies and plants his
Villainous soul in Valentines fair body.
From this forth the book is a picture of
! the possibilities of London for seekers
after iniquity: and while Mr.. Hichens
writes coolly, and as matter of course,
it is not difficult to believe that he has re-
lied on stink and stencil and filthness to
sell his product.
! There is an episode about a young Wo-
man, introduced to us at the close of a.
nights debauch, under the suggestive
name of Feathers" which is meant to
| be very effective. This young woman of
/ the street has sounded every depth of ply
steal and moral degradation; but while
Valentine, with Marr's soul, is dragging
Julian down, she conceives what is de-
scribed as pure and holy love for him,
| sets in to lift him up, and at the close
manages to win in the contest for Julidn's
soul at the cost of her own life. While
such a touch is welcope amidst so much
! iSVhilS nun, ~ 10 Ildlu.y d warrant lOT It's
environment. We cannot help but re-
gard it as sop which Mr.. Hchens throws
to the moralists to keep them from con-
demning his book as unfit to have the
privileges of the mails.
| An excursion into the mystic with differ
ent accessories and a decidedly different
atmosphere IS made in Marie Corellrs
newest novel, "Ziska," which is neatly
published by Stone & Kmbal, of New
| York. Here we have morality to burn.
Some thousands of years before this
strenuous romance opens, an Egyptian
prince, AraXos, had a mistress, Char
mazel for in those days the moral code
was broader than at presenD and the mis-
tress loved the prince so cmphatically that
the prince, to get rid of her tumultuous
! affection, cut her head off. Now note the
sequel The greatest of French painters.
who in the year that the story opens--it
isn't given, but it is supposed to be any
modern year except 1897, for 1897 would
hardly give the story elbow room-is "do-
ing Cairo, and while there is singularly
drawn toward mysterious Princess
Ziska. The process of his attraction to
her Is spread over a considerable number
or pages and makes warm reading, but it
! is Irrelevant here Suffice it to say that
/ in the end the painter and the princess
disappear The latter entices the former
| IIllO Olle VI lHe lowest tOlnDS OF the great
pyramid, and when they had reached the
| tomb of AraXcs we are informed that:
She turned her face, now spectral and
pallid as waning moon, up to him; her
form grew thin and skeleton-like, while
/ still retaining the transparent outline of
| its beauty; and he realized at last that no
! creature of flesh and blood was this that
| clung to him, but some mysterious, bod-
| less horror of the supernatural, unguessed
/ by the outer word of men! The dews of
death stood thick on his forehead; there
was a straining agony at his heart, and
| his breath came in quick, ConvulsiVe
gasps; but worse than his physical tor
ture was the overwhelming and convinc-
ing truth of the actual existence of the
spiritual universe, now so suddenly and
| awfully revealed. What he had ell his
| life denied was now declared certainty;
! where he had been deaf and blind he now
| heard and saw. Ziska! Ziska-Charmazel