The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-09-05

and Bennett as a novelist he sur
passes both of them as a playwright:
and II not so brilliant a playwright or
so mordant an essayist as Bernard
Shaw. he adds to both these vocations
that of being atso a poet.
John Galsworthy Is barely middle
aged. He Is midway in the fortles.
although he looks about thirty. and he
has given us seven novels tor eight, II
n choose to count in that lyric inter-
lude THE Dark F1ower"), four vol-
tunes Of essays, one OF them a volume
OF supreme beauty; ten plays and a
volume Of lyric verse.
1t has beer said Of Arnold Bennett
that with all his genius. industry and
efficiency, one feels in reading him
that his upright spirit has yet been
"~inadequately tempered to fine issues
This is precisely what Is not to be said
OF John Galsworthy; for wherever he
touches upon life. whether 1t be the
fleeing aspects Of nature, a chance
encounter with a tiny beggar maid in
a red p%etticoat. an Anticipated and
cast aside butler. a Dutch-French
~adventurer and philosopher with his
nose askew. or an oppressed and o
est charwoman, he catches some half
hidden CLEAN of loneliness. He sees
in pictures inc in visions rather than
in things and details. He al never
be wholly condemnatory OF a world
and a uman nature which have Of
fered his sensitive eyes so many ex-
quisite CLEANS of pure loneliness.
There IL one point in which he I'M
doubtedly urpasses his fellow crafts
men. He has a sense for diction. This
is a matter as unarguable as the ex-
%istence OF the soul. Either you do or
you DO moi like writers who sense
and glimpse" and "enthuse." Either
you shudder or you do not at a writer
who makes every abstract noun out
OF an adjective by adding "ness' to IL.
1t is sheer instinct with some readers
when they see the word "stableness"
to correct II and say stability" In
these matters Galsworthy's days at
Harrow and oxford stand him in
good stead. He is one Of those lucky
mortals who have an instructive feel
ing for the a~ssociational value of
words and he never makes your flesh
crawl suddenly in the middle OF "A
beautiful description. Neither Wells
nor Bennett is free of sin in this par
; ticular. Shaw says: Your men who
really can write, your Dickenses. Rus
kins and Carlyles. and their like. are
vernacular above all things: they
cling to the locutions which every
day use has made a part of our COM
mon life" But shaw has not quite
hit the mark here. These writer's. like
/ william and Henry James. first served
J an apprenticeship to fine writing and
, well tempered purple patches and then
with adroit art they vivified the page
! by a cunning introduction OF colo
' judaism which brought the reader
I surprised to his feet saying: Here |
;. am at home On the ground after all.
/, just as thought l was soaring.
Earth and air seem n connected
= whole" To be "~vernacular' and yet
2 an artist requires the most adroit skill
= and cunning. In the main John Gals
: worthy is not colloquial. Rather he
is a poet with a poets sense for the
connotations Of words.
r In matter he has covered a wide
= field OF English fifs. villa RUBEN"
his earliest real novel. is set in a for
: eign field. 1t Is incoherent at times
= and the characters fall short OF ac-
%tuality. II was most tenderly treated
2 nv the critics and more praised than II
> deserved 10 he 1.-THE Island phari-
sees', made n yreat stride forward
Here enters that inimitable character
=, Eerrard ubo onnaars in ske,cbes and
in .Tba pi.oon" ond sorvos Mr. Gale
, worthy Nh faithfully as a moutbpiece
% ,h. or.,,or.s nh,Ios,nhy ~ no The
oorn,rc niaoa g. hroarfas, ,ahls is
a.r,a, &C. ,ar,anor nh morrna1 20,
=, - o. hi. ,aaa u.,ta 90 s,t, hi, mic
,r.ss ,ha, Ia, -, ,ha ,ousa h.rsa,,
!, n,no hoa hraa,nad In ,,a sansa 90 on.
nart,r,,u -, har c,ass in b.r cradle.
b.r a,nyhtar ubo lived so sac,re,v
, ana hean,Iful,y on ,ha surfaces ~ ne.
= IL IL all done 10 an extraordinary
. pitch OF perfection. There are few
: instances in literature ~ So great "A
= gan bel ween n first and a second book.
Hardy compassed ny great a gulf
between desperate Remedies an
|, awkward attempt. and Under the
Greenwood Tree" n rural classic.
!. Ga,sworthy knew his art, his field of
observation. and had the mastery of
characterization in Island Pharisees.'
I After that he tried various circles Of
/ society. In THE Mar OF Property
he handled that solid, material, mon
4 eyed class. good at a bargain. with an
4. / axa,t oapSa 80 tha NalIa - raal .stata