The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-03-21
CRITICAL REVIEWS
OF THE SEASONS
LATEST BOOKS
New Kind Of Story From Joseph Conrad-Variety of
Themes Displayed in Current Fiction
Juvenile Settings Ranging From the Civil War South
to Panama and the Erie Canal.
lanes Oliver Curwood Writes Romance OF Dog
Life in the Northand Of Canada.

II 10 q mastery piece OF workmanship
that Joseph Conrad has turned out In
'Chance" Doubleday, Page and Com
pany), all the more remarkable In that
II 10 unlike anything he has done be-
fore. He pieces a story together from
scraps Of hearsay evidence and from
psychological deductions. describing
with great care attendant circumstances
that often at first seem immaterial but
yet that bring out the character OF the
person concerned and advance the story
a step. He uses pretty intricate ma
chinery, for he tells the story In the
FIRST person as the report OF converse
tons with u friend of an analytic turn
Of mind who is solving . puzzle and who
does most Of the talking; he In turn
repeats what he has heard other people
say, with comments Of his own, 20 that
the reader may be perplexed occasion
ally to decide who II" stands for. the
narrator, the psychologist or the per-
son Of whom he 10 speaking. The chief
advantage derived from this process Is
that the author can disown the caustic
and sometimes cynical remarks Of his
psychologist on woman in general and
the particular woman he In dealing with.
Neither can It be denied that the process
a. handled by Mr. Conrad gives .
marked tone Of reality to the story and
to tho people who appear In II.
The opening. which arouses the ex.
pectation OF a sea story, describes the
feelings of q young sailor who has just
obtained his mates certificate and by
the merest chance manages to get .
readers mind than he drops out NJ
sight. while the psychologist by devious
ways, - tantalizing as Mr. De MorGan's.
sloWiy elicits from his own observa-
lions and from two acquaintance the
story Of his heroine. This II a heart
breaking tale OF neglect. cruelty and
loneliness. Hard as the psychologist II
on the stolid. respectable couple from
whom he elicits the story. the reader. We
fancy. will rather like them and admire
theiS kind heartedness. He 10 not likely
to forget the brutal governess nor the
vulgar cousin nor the great financiel
and the satire on British financial
schemes.
At last the scene swings round to the
sh1p again and the mate becomes the
psychologists informant; but the sea Is
only the setting. The drama Is the
misunderstanding between the girl. the
old released convict. who believes In his
own financial genius. As the characters
are now limited In number and the
scene Is restricted the action hastens
The development Is satisfactory both to
the psychologist and the reader. The
end Mr.. Conrad has chosen Is unex
pected. but there is nothing to Be sale
against 1t. His heroine 10 left 10 vagu,
that the reader can hardly like her
though he must feel sorry for her. tn,
captain. whom the psychologist neve
sees, Is a fine fellow: 50 are all the sea
men. and for that matter the psycholo
gist too. His remarks about womeI
will probably please men moro thar
they will the sex he inveighs against
Mr.. Conrad's theme may be slight, bu
the way in which he has worked It GU
Il true literary art.
Ingenious CPiaes.
All detective stories nowadays may b
divided into two classes; those In whic
the expert. with greater or less skill o
merely by intuition, discloses the way |!
which crime has been committed an
those In which the performer IL tn
criminal; either class may be trans
formed into the other by simpl
changing the motive OF the dexterou
and omniscient hero. To the secon
class belong the six tales which Fred
ericle I. Anderson entities 1.-THE Infal
lible Godahl' CThomas Y. Crowell Com
pony). The hero will win the reader
sympathy in the first adventure, 1
which he makes the writer OF GRIMM,
tales work out his problem for hin
The other adventures, whether he do,
the work himself or employs innoceI
agents to do It for him. are suficientl
ingenious.
What marks these stories out, how
ever. from the multitude Of others Of u
same sort Is the setting the author hi
selected for them which n 0euar> IL, +,