The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-05-15
TOWER OF IVORY"
Gertrude AthertOn Cook n Rever-

Gertrude AthertOn Cook n Rever-
sion 10 SIow-mOyinE Narratives.
/ On the cover Of Tower Of Ivory" the
latest novel from the pen Of Gertrude
Anterior. We are informed that "this IS
not a novel Of divorce, politics, finance,
undertaking. capital and labor. woman
suffrage. international marriages lsave
incidentally. New York society. the
ITenderIoin. California, New England the
South. Alaska. Bohemia. a new Balkan
estate. the negro. mysticism, symbolism,
/ OF any sort of sermon" Then, after be-
,ns told what it Is not, the public IS left
/ 90 discover. if it can. what II is. and the
majority Of readers win find this a diff
cult task. both on account Of the au-
thor's style. essentially different i'm this
from her "ConqueTor" and her Califor-
MIA stories, and on account Of the vast
amount Of description and diEressions
which are introduced.
As in her choice Of the locale and motif
Of the book the author has discarded her
earlier ideas. so has She also IN her
conception and handling Of her charac-
ters The principal figure in the book is
Die Styr. a singer Of great repute at
the court Of Ludwig. the mad king OF
Bavaria In her youth - Tor she has
passed that for some time now-she was
miners daughter. who drifted 10 New
York. there 10 become a courtesan OF the
most pronounced character This is the
character and past Of the woman which
she strives so hard 70 conceal
But a young Englishman training for a
diplomatic career meets the artistic and
Of course, falls in love with her It is
here that the author shows her com
mand Of the situations and Of the emo
tons that would naturally be the out
come OF such a meeting and such
course Of events The love scenes be-
tween the two are far from being con-
ventionaI. Each holds himself in such
splendid control that IN parts the con-
versation approaches the boundaries Of
unreality and gives the reader the i'm
preston that It is too Conventionally I'M
conventional.
But after long discussion Of the sub
feet on an absolutely impartial basis the
Englishman succeeds IN penetrating the
ivory tower where the past Of the lady
lies hidden. and finding herself exposed
and betrayed. she frees herself and the
man by dying on the blazing pyre of
''Siegfried' in a last performance Of the
"GOtterdammerung.
But the author. with consummate
skill, does not wish the reader to mag
Inc that the immolation of the artistic
was merely for the sake Of the mans
lawful wife. for he had blundered into
marriage with a young and beautiful but
shallow woman. whom he leaves alone
to go to the Styr. So she has invented a
course Of action antecedent to the last
sacrifice OF the woman which is scarce
~ belevable in its innate cruelty and
brutality, the more so after the manner
in which she has sketched the character
OF the man I'm the earlier part Of the
book
After the Englishman has left HIS wife
for the singer the child dies. and the
man returns just in time to catch a LAST
glimpse Of his wife before she, too. ex-
pires. The evident intention Of the an
thor in introducing the two diametri-
cally opposite infapuations Of the man
for he was really Infatuated with both
Of them. or so the Nriter would have rs
believes 10 draw the clear distinction
between the sexual and spiritual love of
the two unions, allying herself on the
side Of the latter. The bare fact that the
author does this is bound to make the