The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-10-23
1.-THE Dinine Fire" by May Sin
clair, One Of Most Mastery
Stories Of Recent Times.
WORK APPROACHES GENIUS
1Thc House Of Fulfilmcnt,' Not
Like Emmy Lou, But Not
Without Merit.
THE DIVINE FIRE. BY May Sinclair
597 m. $50. Henry Holt d Co., New

THE DIVINE FIRE BY May snclai r,
5a7 PIP. $3.50 Henry Holt y CO., Ne"
York.
"-rhe Divine Fire" Is without doubt,
r the ablest and most mastery story we
have read In many a long DAY. lndeeu
II an It's rare imaginative Quality, us III
q uninous Insight. Its brilliant depictment OF
difficult and hidden things. 1t approaches
as near to genius as any book oil recent
4 publication which we can remember.
The author, May Sinclair. hitherto un-
known-at least to us-becomes at once
4 entitled to the most serious consdera-
tion. At single bound she has lcaped
ia the very forefront, not merely OF "o-
men novclists. but Of English writing nov
: elists both here and across the wafer.
The difference between The DIVINE
4 Fire and the average OF even the better
novel. that so continuously ma th 1' WAY va.
ITO us, Is not far from the measure nl me
rhn that intcrvcnes between talent and
genius.
These. we know, are high words OF
I. praise: but they are not given lightly.
We must add, whether in praise or. de.
traction, that this book will not, In al
probability. be cxtravagantly ponular.
TO begin with, It Is OF almost pronio,' Nv
s length, Beyond that, the mattor That
1ills to the brlm these many pages is
not Of tho sort especially adapted to the
& tastes of the multitude. The story IS
much. too analytical, too dissective, too IN
4 Irrespective for that. Instead OF move
q ment, physical action, we have the "orK Y
4 angs of tile intellect. Tho compats are
the combats of the mind. For aavehtu.g'
Y NO have tho adventures or the SOUL
After this We trust It will not be thought
dntolcrable snobbshness for usto say that
we have found 1t all uncommonly IN
+ teresting.
1t IS 10 trihing matter to attempt to
hay bare with the pen the inner oeins
of a gcnius--a poetic genius 1T thar; Du t
&this is the task that the author mas SCI 9,
a herself and has performed with such
remarkable and compelling Skill. RICK.
man was the son ola cocl1ney book sci
Ter. and what raised him out Of the class
OF his father and his environment was,
s the fact that he had The soul OF n poet,
of the sort that the magazines never never
3 make OF the immense compleSity OF
Rickman's character. particularly IN ms
younger days. 1t would be idle to Mt
tempt to give anys6i idea here Horace
SUewdwine said OF him that his body
really held seven distinct personalities
of Hickman. and in matters OF criticism
5Jewdwinc when he permitted himself INC
luxury Of being honest. was seldom
wrong For one thing Hickman, at TWEEN
ty-two. VISA good deal OIL a rounaer.
He took an enormous pleasure in getting
largely and gloriously drunk. Also he
was fond OF common little variety
actress, Poppy Grace. a. cardiac conGl-
stion which he was never quite able TO
8underst and in his later and more resen-
crate days. Early in the book there
Is given an account of one OF hickman $
evenings of the kind that was typical
With him at that stage OF his career
This is one of the best done parts in
The book, and we wish we had the sDucc
10 make liberal excerpts from It.. il
this gay sansuous part OF him feli from
hickman like a shed garment after he
met Lucia Harden, and his knowledge
of her way of looking at things gre"
rapidly from a glimpse into a cieaF ana
radiant vision.
About Hickman there was something
singular, elemental, vital that drew you
10 him and held you there, you d!dn
know how. Sooner or later everybody ne
met recognized and was gripped by IT,
Even Lucia Harden who, In birth
training, tradition, manner of living, was
as far removed from Hickman as the
poles, became oddly interested IN MN
from, the very day when he came TO
Court House 10 catalogue the great Har-
den library II was an Interest that
Il. time and circumstances deepened, not Ell
faced, Rickman's duty to his father
business and his sense OF what was non
orable to l.ut!a wcl: terribly In conflict
at this tirhe. But when II came to g
point of deciding between them 1t was MS
sense OF honor Thar OVERRIDE and con-
trolled his mind. and he broke with his
father. 1t was characteristic Of him that
he made as light as possible OF the per-
: 6onal Inconvenience attendant upon this
decision. Just as later, when he was
bending every nerve toward raising the
funds TO buy back the famous library
for Lucia, without her knowledge or con-
sent. he made 1t of no account that to do
1t he was slowly starving himself 70
death.
Rickman's development was steady and
complete. Under all temotation, he
cleaved TO his honor and his purpose,
though as we have Just suggested, in at
least one instance it appeared TO pc {.
matter OF his life against It. JewdYlne
had been Rlckman's friend, and. IN his
pale way. his discoverer and guide; and
Hickman. with all tho passionate loyalty
OF his nature, had rlung 10 him even In
his failure, TIL he was finally shaken OH
by the masters own founderligH,s Tho
z offer of the edltorship OF the Planet
came 10 Hickman at a moment when the
increase 10 his income was douhly ana
trebly desirable, but there was q string
to the offer which apparently promised
10 draw him into what llc thought dis
loyalty 10 Jewdwine. Hickman lct the
offer 60 Only Very little later he had
10 let Jewdwlne go too, but even then
he kept silent about the reasons for MS
when silence he well understood, meant
the turning away of his friends. But in
the end he had his reward and Jewdwne
with eyes open At last, knew In his soul
which was the better man.
The horrd truth came 10 him In his
solitude in The interminabIe watches
OF the night, Jewdwine acknowledged
himself q failure and Il failure for which
there was no possible excuse, He had
HAD every conceivable advantage that a
man could have. lie had been born free;
free from all social disabilities frea
from pecuniary embarrassment: free
from the passions that beset ordinary
men. He had opinions; he Was packed
full OF opinions valuable opinions: but
+ ne had neysp had Inc courage Of them.
+ lie had always been u slave TO other pcO-
X pies opinions, Hickman had been born
5.a in slavery and he had freed himself.
When Hickman stood before him, superb
sn his self-masterg, he had fell HIM
self conquered by this man, whom, as