The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-08-21
"znckv and Her Work.

1t is reported from London that the
newest literary reputation on that side
of the water has been made by Miss
Gwendoline Keats, who prefers to be
known by her pen name OF "Zack' Her
reason for this preference is her feeling
of veneration for the memory of the poet
whose name she bears She began to
write in the columns of Blackwood's
Magazine about two years ago. and also
wrote for the London Outlook and the
Academy has become enthusiastic over
her work. Her first book Of stories is
called Life is Life.' taking its name
from the longest and most ambitious of
the tales, and appears among the mid
summer books
The style of "Zack'' is that OF the new
school, undoubtedly. 1t is direct, rugged,
and incisive. 1t is the method which many
of the younger English and American
writers seem to have caught from Kip
ling, although ii is somewhat difficult to
determine whether he Is the example
which they unconsciously follow, or mere
ly the best-known exponent of a new
fashion. Reaction from the polished and
oratorical style of the first half of the
century might very well give rise to
directly opposite type of composition. The
logical result of every Tennyson is a
Browning, and when the Nat Willises be-
come too plentiful We have Walt Whit
man. The impression left upon ones
mind by lacks first book of stories is
that she is a result and not a cause,
photograph rather than voice. The
words of Heldar TO Maisie might very
well apply to this book. There is "a
queer, grim, Dutch touch about it," and
it is not amateurish, but there is 10
special reason why it should ever be done
at ALL" The most notable characteristic
of the author, aside from her style, is
her cynicism. She evidently wishes to
give the impression that she is ready to
face the worst kind OF facts this world
can produce, and say, well and what
of ft?' Now, that is an affectation.
OF course. a dash of cynicism is bracing
70 the soul. but a whole book of it Is
depressing Most people of any expert
ence have cause for cynicism and unhap-
piness in their own lives, and when they
read books they wish to read something
besides records of other lives that have
gone wrong. And that is about all that
one can find in this book, except an UNI
considerable amount of dialect. When
one has unraveled a thing like this, only
TO find that it is an obituary, one is dis
heartened:
And when Zed thlc hur kalneQ acrasS at ee,
and hur vace changed back intu a wumans vace
again; then all-ta-wance Zummat coomed auver
hur and hur tarned hur vace round agin tina wall
1t really seems as If the story might
be fully as effective if it were not pepper
ed with quite so much dialect. On the
whole, it reminds one of Gratianos two
grains of wheat in two bushels of chaff.
The story, if written in good English,
would not be much of story, and there
is no real reason why it should be con-
sidered a better tale when Sam is called
Fam and Thomas is called Tummas.
There is no humor in the book That,
in itself, stamps it as merely clever, not
great There was never writer of real
force in the world of romances who had
not a keen sense of humor.
OF the half dozen stories, ''Life's Life"
the story of a boy blinded and impover-
ished by his own father, is as bleak and
gray as a London fog. There is a certain
strength in the conception and in the tell
ing, but it is disagreeable affair alto
gether. 1.-The Storm is shorter and less
ambitious, and in this story as in no 9TH
er the authors Imagination is allowed to
run away with her, and some real pathos
is allowed to creep into the grimness of
the thing. 1t Is simple and strongly
drawn picture of women watching in
fishing hut at night for the return of their
men, 1t has the repose and pathos of one
of Millet's peasant pictures
The climax, while tragic, has certain
imaginative quality which redeems it.
Mere tragedy, unrelieved, is always in
artistic. 1t is only when it is drawn with
that Undesirable skill which we call
poetic that 1t becomes bearable in litera-
ture. This skill is shown in .'The Storm"
and it is visible to very slight degree in