New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-04-01
MAY SINCLAIR.
The Earlier Books of the Author of
"The Divine Fire"

II there is one thing more than another that is
calculated to pique curiosity where new author
is concerned It Is the disclosure OF the fact that
the author in question is not so very new. after
all, but has. in his or her time published several
books. When THE Divine Fire" was brought
out by Henry Holt & Co. q short time ago Miss
May Sinclair, the author Of that brilliant book.
sailed into our ken the wings Of success as a
new and interesting literary personality. Ger
tainly she had never done anything before to at
ract attention 70 herself so urgently, but that
she had written other books was soon discOv-
cred, and it has seemed worth while to hunt
them up to see whether 1.-THE Divine Fire. is TO
be taken as the result OF a steady growth or as
the outcome Of an isolated moment Of inspira-
ton.
The "other books are two novels bearing the
imprint Of the Blackwoods. in Edinburgh. The
first. Audrey Craven published in 1897,
and that it met with a fair measure Of success
is indicated by note on the title page Of the
copy before u.s. indicating that the latter formed
a part of a second edition. Fast on it's heels, in
1898. in fact. came "Adr. and Mrs. Nevin Tyson"
Both stories are brief compared with The
Divine Fire" We Immediately that Miss
Sinclair was unable, eight years ago, to tackle
anything like so large canvas as the one she
used when she came to write the book that has
give US a subject equal in interest to her Cock
ney poet, nor does she attempt to give the same
significance to her subsidiary figures. The
heroine Of Audrey Craven" is beautiful young
hirt who begins by troubling the hearts Of three
men Of character and ends by marrying a non
entity. a master of a model goose farm. The hero
Of MI and Mrs. Nevill Tyson Is :. male hirt-
tc put 1t mildly-and his wife is a pretty Great
ure whose unexpected sources of emotion are
not enough to save her from disaster, but ars
quite enough to make us take a deeper and
deeper interest in her proceedings as the nara
tive moves toward tragic end. The books came
too near to another in point of time. we
fear, for the good Of the second. Though not
precisely repeating herself, Miss Sinclair lea, IS
the impression of dealing in much the same order
of ideas as she turns from Audrey Craven
and. reversing the positions Of her actors writes
Mr.. and Mrs. Nevin Tyson" The vain love
of a good man for a heaTtless woman. IN
Audrey Craven" is balanced by the equally
vain love of a good woman for heartless man
in the succeeding volume Yet this testimony
to the authors lack Of invention cannot obscure
the fact that she had the root of the matter IN
her at the outset of her career
What is II that makes The Divine Ftre" a
good book? It's poignantly human quality
That quality belongs to the two volumes by
MISS sinclair winch we venture TO lit for
moment out OF the Oblivion in which all fiction.
save the best. is so soon lost. We see no rea-
son for reprinting either of them. and we are
not inclined to review them in detail to-day.
But we find them undeniably suggestive inas-
much as they illustrate two points which It is
always desirable to keep in mind. In the first
place they prove. what we have always u.sin-
tanned. that in literature there is nothing like
expeTience-save for those rare writer's of
genius vgsO are born to take the town by storm
with their first work. In these earlier novels
Miss Sinclair seems to to have paved the
way for her greater achievement. She shows
that she has sympathy insight. and vein OF
sardonic humOr, but she does not try to do too
much with her gifts. Instead. she takes enor-
nous pains to do a comparatively little thing
well Each Of the books Is adequately writ
ten; it is clear and flowing in style: 1t is exc
cuted with light touch. In short. she keeps
pace with her experience of life; one feels thar
here is a novelist who deals with things we'll
within her range and makes no pretence-after
the fashion Of the ordinary author-of dealing
with the things beyond 1t. Consider THE Di-
vine Fire" with reference to its predecessors
and only one conclusion is possihle--that the
authors mind has matured. that she has seen
more OF life. has come to understand many
more OF its types and problems and has ac
cordingly written a richer. stronger book. The
instructive feeling for the genuinely human mo-
tive Is 20 be disesEnsd Ia all three productions,