The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-10-09
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Again 1 chronicle the first published
work in book form of a woman which
has gained immediate acceptance and dis
tinction. Miss Gwendoline Keats, who
writes under the pseudonym of "Zaclx,"
was discovered" by Mr.. Blackwood, who
published number of her stories in
Backwood's Magazine. They excited no
unusual comment, and despite the fact
that certain critics shook their heads
doubtfully over her Devonshire dialect he
persisted in his belief in his literary profit
gee ad produced her first book, Life is
Life
His optimistic faith in her has been
since confirmed by readers and reviewers
on both sides of the Atlantic, for whatev-
er the future may hold for her as a writer,
at present she has scored a decided success.
This, no doubt, is as much young writ
er could ask who has but recently taken
to literature as a profession. She was
born in Devonshire some thirty years ago.
Her picture shows the face of a woman
of serious and reflective nature and is
just such one as we would expect the
author of Life is Life to possess.
The volume is made up of short stories,
and takes it's name from the initial one in
the book and the longest one entitled Life
is Life" The first six stories in the book
are totally different from the remaining
ones and so inferior In their treatment
that one reviewer Invested himself of the
belief that she must have elaborated
with some one in her first stories and re-
lied upon her own powers, unincumbered,
for the later ones. To this "Zack" replied,
81 should like to state that l have no col
laborator, and am as responsible for the
241 pages that he the critic condemns as
for the so pages that he praises
Birmingham readers are familiar with the
Cornish stories of Mr.. Quilar-Couch, but
terrible and tragic as are many of them
they are genial and relenting in COMPARE
son with the terrible, tearing, fearless pas
sion found in the Devonshire stories of
"Zack" The writer's philosophy which
has created so much comment may be
summed up in the exclamation. 'Life's life
as Blind Joes wife said to him, land oh,
lad it's hard to live it." Whether this
philosophy underlying the stories of the
book was gained by insight or experience
the reader can hardly determine. liter
airy production is a compromise between
two views of life. One of these is the
world as he sees it, and the other Is the
world as he thinks it ought to be. 'Zack''
is nothing of moralist and we detect no
note of the preacher attempting to tell us
how the world ought to be. Now whether
a writer call himself 'realist'' or "veri-
fist" as soon as he begins to report
facts" then we find that his report is col
ored by the inner nature of the man.
Evidently 'Zack" writes of the world as
she sees it and what gloomy, dismal
world she sees.
"Life is Life is a sef-evdent PROPOSE
fion, but what does one understand by the
predicate "Life?" 1t does not mean the
same thing to all people by any means.
AS Quiller-Couch faceticously remarks. to
one 1t might mean Beer and skittles," to
another, "a nice, respectable villa or to
another "a grand deal of miscellaneous
eating" To Joe's wife it evidently meant
the "Valley of the Shadow The pitiful
passion and pathos of these stories is de-
picted in so gloomy a way that life, in
deed seems hopeless. strenuous struggle
with the crushing hand of fatalism relent-
1essly subduing those things for which the
human soul ever strives. Here life seems
only to hold out to the weary heart its
bitterness and its dregs. Had "Zack"
alone drawn this stern picture of realism
with its relentless gloom she would have
done no more than many others are doing.
and no matter how convincing their phil
osophy there is something within us that
always rebels at this worst side of life, es-
pecially when presented in fiction. But
she has shown and most ably too,
that life Is something more than 1t APP
pears after all No life is so "bitter"
but somewhere along its pathway we find
the "sweet" The beautiful lesson learned
from the life of Joes wife-she is not even
named-is that when we face the facts of
life, cruel though they may be, they can
be used to noble ends by fortitude and by
submission. The character of Joe's wife
would redeem the darkest page of pessi-
mism She whose world-weary cry was
"Iifes Life gives glimpse of her
faith in something better than this dreary
in the closing lines of the story.
Poor blind Humphry clings to the strong
60, Ort ond hn
saws, Mother he asked.
did you say life's life when first you knew
Joe loved your
"Ay. on my knees said It,"
God bless you for having lived cried
the boy.
for DENYING the Almighty was the AL
mighty. >"
90 NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. oei