Evening star., 1911-06-10

Frontispiece by Martin Justice
Philadelphia: j. B. Lippincott Com
pany.
OUTLEDGE RIDES ALONE, !"
this authors first novel
~ rendered a mastery &C.
count Of itself-and, with
undiminished front. Is still
rendering such account. 1t did more
than this. 1t stood az guarantee for
the high quality Of VIII Lexington
Comforts subsequent work Now, a
new story from this source is at hand.
to test the literary good faith of Rout-
ledge. One waits. wondering. to see II
the second book supplants the first.
The elements in the game Of prece-
dence vary SO widely and ramify so far
that they lie. properly. quite outside
the single concern Of the author him
self. Both are big books. The first.
biz In concrete effects, the new one.
great In its wonderful sub5ectivity.
The first IL a splendid picture Of ac-
ton. mass. color. spirit. with such
depth ~ pictorial things may have.
The artist here stands before the can
vas. For the new book. the author
patient, quiet, open-sat down. wait
ing, in the secret places Of the spirit.
Out of these he brought the adventure g
Of q soul faring through q world or
things. To objectify this supreme ad-
venture for the uses Of life. the author
visioned 1t In q high romance pic
turesque. poetic. singing romance
where clear dramatic power stands out,
confident and secure. The story. as q
story is q new and interesting one OF
q young western writer who enters.
casually, into correspondence with a
young woman OF the east whose per-
functory duty II Is to review new
publications. Somewhere, somehow, III
the Interchange Of polite acknowledge
ment, the divine spark strikes alfght
Then, separate and aloof. life has its
way with them. Except at tho very
last, this matter commonly supposed
contact. develops through distance and
separation. Those who consider only
the outer movements this story may
call its denouement theatric. Those.
however. who follow its spirit will see
a dramatic harmony between the es-
sence Of the story and its obvious con-
summation. All along through the
story one finds a tally for his own
spiritual experiences. those both OF
victory and defeat. The book, In it's
large movements, is so fully autobio-
graphic Of every personal human ex-
perience that 1t turns out. In parts at
least. to be transcriptfve OF every
body's life. From these two manifes-
dom to count Will Lexington Comfort
as an American literary asset, unlim-
tied
the Russian of vsevolod Garshin.
THE GRISLEY SUITOR. RABBI
EZRA. THE VICTIM. BY Frank
wedekind Translated from the Ger
man by Francis ]. Ziegler. Philadel-
phia: Brown Brothers.
Under the title Of Modern Authors
Series these publishers are sending out
short stories and dramas. translations. In
the main. from the works Of modern writ
ersderman. French. Swedish. Norwegian
and Russian. The three little volumes
IN hand point the venture as one of i'm
portance to English readers. Vsevoiod
Garshfn IS the young Russian whom VIII
liam Lyon Phelps believes might have be-
come the real successor to Tolstoi. "a
title that has been bestowed upon Chek-
how. Gorki and Andrew, and has not yet
been earned by any man." But Garshin,
overweighted with the profound melan-
choly that possesses most Russian writ
ers took his own life when but little over
thirty. A RED Flower is a powerful
story-startling in its sheer simplicity
with insanity as its motive. Among the
flowers in the grounds of an asylum for
the insane are two red peoples. Around
them an inmate builds for himself the
new mania that these flaming blossoms
have absorbed the wickedness and sorrow
OF the world. To seize them before, by
some chance, their essence is again diff
fused is the immediate projection Of the
mania The delusion expands to the con-
viction that the poppies concealed in his
own breast will give over their malevo-
lence to him, whereby he, in his own
body. will have cleared the world of evil
Simple. circumstantial. concrete the story
IS a marvel Of effect Gloom. deep and
terrifying. pervades II. Grim suggestions
of the abysmal dangeFA lurking in the
human mind accompany Il.
Frank Wedekind. remembered here
through the awakening of Spring" a
tragedy of adolescence. still pursues in
the sketches in hand the theme of sex.
1t is not easy for readers to take on the
frank attitude of this author before mat
ters long laboriously ignored. But. how
ever rigidly one may withhold approba-
ton, he must grant the writer entire
seriousness Of purpose and power of
treatment. Among these sketches. the
most significant I'm theme and handling
Is The Victim whose closing sentences
reveal the substance Of the whole and In
dicate the authors outlook upon the sub
ject: He had assumed the mask OF a
preacher the evening before. Now 1t
seemed to him as IL he himself had lis
tened to sermon. He had learned to
believe in innocence where he had least
expected to find IT. When he thought of
the girl he was forced to despise himself
She who had wished evil to none, was
condemned to shame: he. who had never
wished good to any one. still held a
position In society. He felt the contrast,
and the impression remained with him
for life"
JANE OGLANDER. BY Mrs Belloc
Lowndes. New York: Charles Scrib-
ner's Sons Washington: Brentano's
Girls Of the Jane Oglander type do not
compose we'll for the uses of merely d.
verting love tales. Heartily conceded to
the salt Of hfe-incomparable as daugh-
tiers, sisters. comrades-they as the hero
ines Of romance, are savorless. incapable
Of stirring effectively the epicurean and
fugitive emotions OF the male heart. Mrs.
Lowndes, too, as well as the reader. ap-
pears to hold this opinion. For. having
offered fine and wholesome picture of
Jane Oglander. she passes promptly To
the chief woman of the story. the one
for whom. If titles mean anything. the
book might have been more httingiy
named. The Greek wife of q rich Eng
lish philo-Hellenist, this instfnctively
pagan heroine is set down in the alien
atmosphere of a staid English county. A
siren. too. this woman. with witchery 10
entoil the male population Of the neigh
borhood. She tolls of her victims, one
two. three and four-her husbands neph-
ew, his Italian protege. the rector's son
and. chief of all. Jane Oglander's lover,
martial resistance liduefies and evapo-
fnC hGf fRrV