The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-30

IA KRS. GERTRUDE ATHERTON
IL ID has written another book.
NN 1t would not be just right to
VI call it a story, for there is little
of what would be called plot.
1t has not a single dramatic in
Cident that is necessary. Those
that are depicted might as well be left
out.
The Californians" must be likened to
series of pictures spread all over one can
vas. Looked at as a whole there Is noth-
ing. but a conglomerate mass. Separate
any one Of the gems and it is a master
piece of English writing. From purely
literary point of view the book is the
best that Mrs. Atherton has written.
But whether it is just in its description
Of certain people is another matter.
The Californians' must be praised IN
any case Whether it should De PRAISED
with enthusiasm or merely accorded
cold, critical approval Is another question:
the answer TO it depends upon whether
the reader expects the novelist to imagine
or merely TO observe In the matter or
imagination Mrs. Anterior is easily sur
passed even by such craftsmen as Guy
Boothby and Hall Game. Probably, now
ever. she has no wish to challenge com
parison with writer's of the lorid school.
and would wish for no higher commenda-
ton than that which one Of her own char
acters bestows upon Henry James Hes
so fascinating; l think it's because moth
ing ever happens, and that's so like real
life"
Certainly nothing of serious conse-
quence happens from the first page OF
1.-The Californians' to the last, except
suicide. To this extent. then, the writer
is a successful disciple, not only of Mr.
Henry James, but also of Balzac and
Thackeray and Mr. George Gissing and
various other masters; and one feels al
most bound to apologize for not finding
her work particularly interesting.
Judged by all the canOns. it is good work.
The environment-San Francisco in the
eighties-is admirably realized and pre-
scented; the incidents-such as they are
are thoroughly well dovetailed; the char
acters are clearly individualiZed; the
style is fluent and graceful. Yet one
rises from the perusal of the book with
the sense that there is something want
ing in it. Why? The reason is, so far
as we can Judge, that the tone is pessi-
mistic and that the rare qualities which
make pessimism acceptable are wanting.
The pessimism of Mrs Atherton is neither
amusing nor inevitable. The heroine for
whom sympathy is invited. only needed
TO be thoroughly well shaken in order
to be made quite contented with her lot.
Very likely that is the case with a good
many of the unhappy herOines of real
NE. But tney are the least interesting
sort of herones. Their satisfactory pre-
sentation in fiction demands the unfinch-
ing analysis of a Flaubert. In that way
an effect may be produced which Mrs.
Anterior entirely misses by her excess of
tenderness toward characters that are
only miserable because they are inverte-
brate.
The Californians," however. is some
thing more tnan story. incidentally, if
not Intentionally, it is an Indictment of
America and the Americans. There is
hardly a class of American society that is
not scornfully handled in its pages. The
picture of the purse proud parvenus of
San Francisco is effective. The exposure
of the superficiality and selfshness of the
bellies of the Pacific is such as to deter
any man who is willing to accept Mrs.
Anterior as his philosopher from ever
marrying one of them The young men
who admire the bellies are merely silly
and vulgar The characters from Boston
are uuattractive and narrow minded
blow is even struck-fOrmally deliber-