New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-28
RECENT ROMANCES.
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE "ZENDA'
FORMULA.


PHROSO A Romance BY Anthony Hope. Illus
trated by Henry r. Wechsler. octave, PIP. 5Vo
Frederick A. Stokes Company.
THE FORGE IN THE FOREST Being the Mar
rative of the Acadian Ranger: Jean de Mer,
Seigneur de Brart, and How He Crossed the
Black Able. and Of His Adventures IN a strange
Fellowship. BY Charles G. ID. Roberts. i1ius-
trated Octave, PIP. 81. Lamson, Nol1e " o.
In the conflict between realism and romantcism
one of the chief arguments advanced by adherents
Of the latter Is that 1t permits the imagination to
do what 1t likes, that 1t gives the creative faculty
free swing The point is accurate enough. and GER
tainly a main element in the best romance Is that
of freedom from all the restraints of prosaic con-
vention Dumas has great air of reality but his
world is after all. place Of superb Inventions
The immortal Thre, go through adventures so
varied as to tax the readers credulity TO severe
degree. We feel that il we are to believe all that
Dumas tells us we mus; grant him in the first
place a license to be as improbable as he chooses
The romancers have run up and down the samut
of this license, but no matter in what measure
they are audacious and arbitrary. they have COM
monty preserved the same atmosphere Of delightful
freedom. In recent days the spirit OF their work
has changed and Mr. Anthony Hope, who has pro-
voked this reflection before provokes it still more
In his latest story.
Our latter-day romancers work too much from
formulate. So 1t may be asserted, did Dumas. but
the charge would be difficult TO prove. He wrote
appropriations. His tales homogeneous enough
for verismilitude to he maintained, but. on the
whole they are the most whimscally constructed
things In the world II he had formula at all 1t
was of the vaguest description. Anthony Hopes
IS as clean cut as though 1t were recipe lor the
mixing Of chemicals Take one hero, he says one
heroine and heavy villain; add few faithful re-
tanners on either side: throw the whole party into
a picturesque and unknown region; give them
bone to quarrel over in the shape of throne, or
az in the case of "Phroso," an island and then
keen them all moving on a checkerboard OF sur
nrlses until a volume OF many pages has been
made out of a record of their dongs Fling over
such a formula this the radiance or a new STYLE
n new enthusiasm, and you get a prisoner OF
Zenda." Work It out with the perfunctory air Oh
n cook who ms grown to take his service as
matter OF fact. and you get "Phroso.' To begin
n reading of Anthony Hopes romances with The
Prisoner of Zenda' is to come upon the cook on
high feast day. To take up the succeeding Zenda
stories and now this tale Of the Island of Neo-
pala is to sit down 10 the ordinary repast or every
day i'm the week. 1t must be admitted that the
author shows abundant resource, that the perilous
adventures OF his Englishmen are devised win
much originality. The central idea Is indubitaoly
eccentric and effective. But strain of arthcialty
rms through the whole volume. The old Zenda
attractlveness is gone It Is palmer now than ever
before that while Anthony Hope has had moments
of imaginative rapture. moments of delightful ro-
nance the essential note of his work is one of
mechanical contrivance.
The exclamation of the fall Of his lies In its
detachment from nature. The greatest romancers
keen close to that; no matter how darngly nven-
tive they may be the breath of the open forest Is
in their pages the veritable winds OF tire sea. the
cleaning OF the sun and stars. Anthony Hope is
nine-tenths fantasy and onetenth nature; the pro-
portion is all wrong, and one misses In his tales
the vigor Of thoroughly human character OF land
scape that is genuine. When nature has crept into
a romance il will counteract even formula ana
take the place OF an nexhaustible inventveness.
The new book which Mr.. Charles G. D. Roberts
has Just brought out confirms the point lie has no
such sustained power In the devisng OF thrilling
situations as Anthony Hope possesses. His melo-
drama is brilliant only in places. But into this In
teresting pastiche of old Acadlan history and ro-
mantle imaginings he has put the vitality which
'Phroso" lacks. He has a naIvete which argues
inexpcrence in the writing OF fiction like this. yet
the story takes hold OF the reader with the force OF
a much more mature production. If Mr.. Roberts
had depended upon his plot alone. thinking only OF
ts dramatic possibilities, he would have produced
! n thin and unattractive work. But following the
instinct of the old masters ne has sought TO make
! his men real characters and to wrap them all In
the glamor OF the Acadian Peninsula. The love OF
! nature which distinguishes him a poet is
obvious in this prose performance The descriptive
passages are frequent but they are deity intro
duced and rever spoil the movement OF the tale
| That proceeds with great rapidl;y. indeed and
with bouyancy that speaks OF tho very woods and
waters amid which the action is laid The style Is
simple and the plot. though containing strong
surprises is smoothly unfoded This novel is the
first IN series which Mr. Roberts proposes to
write keeping or less within the limits OF the
history OF old Acade. lie has begun we'll and his
series when completed promises to be valuable
| contribution TO the fiction of the day "a well as
TO The literature OF n fascinating province Tn.
novelist has still to gain In authority. hut the root
Of the matter Is in him.