New-York tribune., 1918-06-23

A'"0 AAA' ocHnetls NA the WOrQS or
reviewer in "The New York Times,s
presents his public with picture
which is mot exactly inspiring" "The
New York Evening Mail' wonders
by what route he made his en-.
try into this London of which he has.
written with such intimate knowledge
and just what his purpose may have beer
IN putting together the incidents of his
story But the story, whatever its pur-
pose, this same organ adds, displays Q
kind of craftsmanship new to the authos.
and in its way exquisite"
80 But lfsthe picture is not inspiring it Is.
at any rate, according to The New York
Evening Globe" done in a mood of tre-
mendous and not trifling or PLAYFUL
irony. at is as if Mr.. Bennett were en-
ragged at the war and all its works-par-
ticularly its workers-and he were deter
mined to show the whole business up
the committees and the great lad es, the
public and private profteering, greed and
vanity; in word, human imperfect
ability in time of great world tragedy
as in all time"
Llewellyn Jones, writing in "The Chi
cago Evening Post" says:
~ am told that wartime England has
resented it the book very bitterly. That
is not to be wondered at England is mobil-
lzing enthusiasms as we'll as bodies +.
The war naturally tears to pieces the minds
in which it is refought, wears out the
10 of
tlon who await casualty lists, just as truly
as it tears up the ground over which its
physical tides roar. Mr.. Wells and writers
like him, some truly, some sentimentally,
try to lessen the shocks and jolts of this
inner warfare. They clothe the struggle
in such cosmic and religious significance as
will reduce its friction in the mind of the
pon-combatant individual, as will enable
the father and mother, the ammunitions
worker, the taxpayer, to carry on, to have
faith in themselves, their government and
their destiny.
"But this Mr.. Bennett has refused to do.
He has, for better or for worse, set out
to report the actual state of affairs in the
minds and hearts of his countrymen. In his
establishment about some of the values
most loudly cried up by men like Wells, snd
IN his preoccupation with the character OF
his pretty lady-a daughter of Joy, who
was in Ostend when the war began and had
to take refuge in England-in these he is
the typical artist, scorning all values but
his own"
Burton Rascoe, in another Chicago pa-
per, "The Tribune" states that mo
English critic has had good word to
say for The Pretty Lady," But in
this he is wrong. a critic, for example,
in the Literary Supplement of "The Lon
don Times" writes:
'As for the cynicsm that is not sign OF
heartlessness. Men at the front instructive
ly become calous; many people at noAne
as instinctively cover with cynicism the
hart that war does to their minds Once
or twice Mr.. Benefits cynicism becomes
fcrocious, and then you see for moment
the protest of hurt mind against the
blasphemy of war"
There is tremendous lot of thin ice n
the book-to return to the aforementioned
shady" phases. The heroine, as has been
said. is daughter of joy. The affair be-
tween Christine and G. J. Hoape, the
hero, is treated in the frankest manner
possible. Some of the reviewers confess
themselves shocked The Tribune finds
the whole thing "feverish and hectic, with
abnormal sexuaiity." On the other hand
declared "The Brooklyn Eagle" MIR. Ben
nett has here succeeded where many fan,
"and if he chooses to enter competition
in skating over thin ice we will back HIM
for the championship against either Gais-
worthy or Theodore Dresser. His toucn
is far lighter than theirs, and he con.
trives 20 be interesting in situations u
which they become merely stodgy."
This same paper thinks the publisher
must be immensely pleased with this nswssS
est novel of Mr.. BENEFITS. For publ sn-
ers don't cften get quick seller hRs
thisi"