New-York tribune., 1912-02-03
FICTION
Some New Novels, English ana
American.
PROMISING NEW NOVELIST.

A PROMISING NEW NOVELIST.
| CHRISTOPHER. by Richard Pryce' I'm I'm
m 96t The Houghton Iiffiin Com
pany.
Mr.. Pryce should be better known TO
| the American reading public than he Is
His first novel, THE Successor lssueu
here by discerning publisher sonic
three or four years ago. fell nat hot"l'h-
/ standing its high quality, when WAS so-
ciaI as well as artistic. The book re-
vealed 10 the few who happened upon IL
or perhaps were led to it by surprls-
! ingly small number of appreciatiVe re-
views. a writer with gift for satire a
sense of humor and smooth mastery
OF the technique OF the modern novel, Il
capital analyst, also, Of character,
and last but not least. an Englishman
as thoroughly at home In the Engiish
country house and among it's deniZens
as Mr.. Galsworthy himself. To be sure,
the story was rather cynical. but one
readily fOrgave that for merits more
sclid than its polished cleverness
In christopher. his second novel, Mr..
Prvce makes radically new departure.
He essays here the leisurely hctIonai
chronicle that has come into fashloh
again since. The Successor was pup-
lished. under the influence, to Il large
extent, OF Mr. De Morgan. The story OF
christopher begins with his posthumous
birth at sea, on his widowed mother
return home from India. 1t follows MIN
through infancy and boyhood through
happy days at Boulogne, refuge In the
late GUs and early 1Os Of English FAM
lilies in straitened circumstances, ana
leaves him at the threshold OF lfe' atter
the great disappointment of his hrst, MS
wondrous love. for the daughter of the
woman upon whom, at BoulOgne. no.
body had called. because she had placed
herself beyond the pale.
The plot is slight. 1t is the manner
Of the book that suffices TO carry the
reader with undiminished interest
through q chronicle OF simple almost
monotonous, lives centring in this httle
bit OF sensitive. imaginative humanity
taking its first curious, enchanted steps
in a world of endless. beautiful things.
This interest is Of "A triple nature mat
Of the child's development in itseli. It's
relation toward It's elders and the part
il plays in their lives. Thus Mr.. Pryce
gives us an ably and delicately varied
gallery Of character studies notably IN
the differentiation between the boys pa
ternaI and maternal grandmothers, and.
mos, Of ALI. between the former and his
mother. There are differences Of attl-
tude toward life and ~ outlook upon II,
even in the same social class due TO ma
terial circumstances. Poverty. even II
II be only comparative, has It's influences
The difference between these three
women. almost imperCcptibIy Indicated
is one not Of breeding and character so
much as of worldly power. Christie
pher's paternal grandmother Is a. .nCta-
bic study of vanishing type. that OF
the great lady Of the middle OF the last
century. n benevolent despot among her
tenants. whose tolerant outlook upon the
world Is impersonal. unlike that of the
two other women, which. resulting from
closer contact. is sympathetic and com
passionate Christophers mother Is.
moreover. an exceptionally appealing
woman In r self. and as for Trimmer,
the child's nurse. she is a pure delight.
so truly human and so truly the serving
woman and trustworthy Conidante Of
times now past.
Slight though the plot bc, the clever
less Of it's construction another pleas
ure There Is the passing Introduction
Of the child that Is 10 grow into the well
beloved, and the more insistent present
of her mother, which, becoming her past
is to rise again as new present and
barrier in sense far deeper than the
social one The second marriage Jf
Chrstophcr's mother, again. is well
found and capitally handled episode. cS-
pccially IN the part played In It's pro-
motion by the masterful grandmother.
The story throughout bears the stamp of
life, and IT, toward the end, it Is re-
tardcd somewhat-ovcrelabOr bora tcd-that
Is the apparently almost unavoidable
shortcomng of the method chosen for It's
telling by the author.