New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-06-10
THE DARK FOREST.

kcot d. gives series OF Impressive
,,,3ics OF thc work and daily life OF
rr.sisn hospital unit; It echoes the
,,,nreSsicns Of war received by those
Immediately behind the first line of
he,flc. vowed not 10 killing or death.
End 20 life. 70 tells an interesting story
,rbose inner plot is based entirely on
[bsractcr as II reveals itself and de
'.,iors under tho cumulating influences
~ a soul-Shaking environment; and,
n course. being a novel of Russia, II
f.o's with the "Slav soul" Here Mr..
Wslpole's method is truly admirable.
10 englvzcs this peculiar temperament
IN his opcuiuC pages; he contrasts its
,ro phascs thc fatalStlc submission
and the SMELLS Of suncrhuman energy
tben takes 10 for granted. And, in
deed for his own and the readers pur-
nose. he tells US enough. Gradually
.6o racial differences there are two
r,cIishrcn here are merged by the
6cminating environment. its duties, eX-
actions. anxictieS, IFS horrors. There
after the story is one Of human beings,
n tho fundamentals of emotional eX-
pcrienco the world over.
The Younger English novelists have
iorr been experimenting with the
methods Of the Russian masters. They
are saturated with them. The result
thus far has been all too often Rus
SLAMS masoucradiug as Englishmen IN
English fiction Russian psychology
cal INTERPRETATION Of numerically and
socially unimportant Anglo-SaXOn type,
the Stacker. the inefficient. Indeed, Mr..
Walpolc himself bridges the approach
by making his hero young English
man Of approximately Russian attitude
toward life. whose clumsy ineffciency
&. caused By difidence and its resultant
Consciousness Of nferiority. This man,
rfcctcd for military service at home
on account OF defective cyeslght, goes
IN ST. Petersburg and there joins prl-
vafc ambulance corps. The other Eng
nehman tells the story. playing the
part OF observer and interpreter.
The novel gradually narrows down TO
'he situation created by the enforced
companionship Of FIVE members of the
ambulance corps four men and
woman She. Marie Ivanovna. young,
inexperienced eager for life. is killed
in the course Of her duties by stray
bullet She has been engaged to the
inefficient Englishman, and has Jlltedi
rim for one Of the Russians, impressed
by his enormous energy. There are
then. the discarded lover and the man
bv the same grief, hating each other,
vet fatally attracted toward each other
beyond the requirements Of their pro-
fessional companionship. The other
two. both Russians. are linked together
by still stranger bond. for the one IS
the widower Of the woman who loved
the other and was beloved by him.
These four-two strong men and two
fools-labor i'm the dark forest on the
Austrian frontier, which is also the
forest of life i'm which the hunters be-
come the hunted. For there is a strong
touch Of mysticism in these pages,
mysticism that is partly emotional
partly the result Of physical horror
and exhaustion. The forest finally be-
gins to obsess even the patient, cheer
ful. faithful soldiers: it is moving, they
cry: IL is advancing upon them, pur-
suing them il would destroy them.
There. lust behind the battle line,
amid the wounded and the dying, the
oelirious and demented. the retreats
and the flights. amid torn limbs. the
smell Of blood and an8sthetics, the flies
and the nausea. under the realization
Of always insufficient service, the tull
horrors OF war are felt. No other book
Of ambulance experience yet published
gives so CHASTITY a picture of the con
ditions amid which work those who
would succor, give consolation and save
ID seems impossible amid these abomi-
nations that existence Will ever return
10 normal conditions. that men VIII
ever become sane again. The mind
turns 10 other things:
How strange it is that at home
death is so horrible-and here, IN
every ten deaths that | have seen
there has been peace or even nap
piaess This is the merest truth,
and will be confirmed by any one
who has worked here. Again and
again / have seen that strange
fash Of surprised, almost startled
interest; again and again l nave
been conscious behind, not an. the
eyes-of the expression OF one who
is startled by fresh conditions. a
fine view. a sudden piece Of news.
This is no argument for religion,
for any creed or dogma; ! only say
that here 10 is so, that Death seems
% be happiness and the beginning
OF something new and unexpected.
Upon this note the book ends The
two fools win life through death, conf,
dent of reunion TO the loves they had
lost; the two strong men remain to
work. serve and forget. Upon tins note
this review might we'll end, but a word
remains 10 be said Of some other mer-
its Of the story its impressive pct
uIcs Of the search for wounded in the
dark Of night, its incidental accounts
Of the Russian military muddle, the in
lght 10 gives into the mystery OF the
Russian temperament. The Russian
character" says Mr.. Walpole, seems,
fuperfcially, with its lack of restraint,
ITS idealsm, its impracticality, its mys-
ticism, its material simplicities, to be
so readily grasped that the surprise
that finally remains is the more dunn
founding. II is, perhaps, that in the
Russians soul the East can never be
reconciled TO the West. Whatever II
be. the surprise remains" And the
gigantic Nikitin, having expressed his
scorn of the foreigners who come prob
ing this mystery, this surprise, draws
picture of his own people as he knows
them that is worth reading II con-
firms the existence of the mystery,
states all its symptoms which so puzzle
the West, but attempts no explana-
zion. II is Dostoievsky compressed
within a couple Of pages-nno small feat;
A remarkable book, indeed beyond
doubt the most notable novel yet in
splred by the war.
MY LADY OF THE MOOR.