New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-01-04
Some Current Fiction
Romantic, A Adventure us.
Humorous, COMMEMORATIVE

Dresser limo. Up. 500. Boni 4 IA7ersht. '''VN0-V
The Gll DAD Man. BY Clifford smyth With an
xvi S56. Bonn & gi,e.isAl ~
JACOB tI-INE By John Asscoush Svo. pp. ri.
SIC T. j. kennedy & Sons.
THOMAS i,oNa., By H Z. cseswen. lsmo, PIP SIS
HA Att TALES DOWN NORTH By Norman
Gfan.a Tj5h az apprse s by g, "s T
H. Revel Company.
BATTLES NEs ROYAL DowN NORTH By Norman
,umca9 M VIE an appreciation by Wlired T.
We must account Mr.. Dresser more
successful with his short stories than
with sustained novels He still sticks
largely to the seamy side of life, but
aoes so less for the love OF it than for
love Of pictorial and dramatic a,t.
Some OF this collection are of singular
power, such as "Old Rogaum and His
Theresa which is one Of the finest
sketches of what we might term boz
derland life in New York that we have
ever seen.
Comparisons may not always be
odious, but theN are often peiilou-
We have heard them suggested be-
tween Mr.. Smyth's "Gildcd Man and
at least three of the worlds most
notable pieces of imaginative ;nven-
ton: "Nathek,' ''The Count OF Monte
Crlsto' and "King Solcmons Mines"
Now the irony Of the comparison ia
In this, that there is absolutely 10 re-
semblance between any two Of these.
save such as uroverbally exists be
tween Monmouth and Macedon, so that
II THE Gilded Man was like any GU
Of them it could not be like any other.
As matter Of fact, it bears no real
VOC conn }, Lon
that It tells of a wonderful treasure
cavern: But the lack Of likeness is no
dlscredlt to a romance Of iderable
originality. of inventive ingenuity, of
nervous, expeditions narrative, and oe
accurate knowledge of the land IN
which its scene is laid. We must
heartily welcome so promising an ad-
venture into the vast field which South
America presents for romantic ex-
ploitation.
Monsignor Bickerstaff- Drew, who
writes under the pen name of John
Ayscough, may always be depended
upon to tell an interesting story in
scholarly English, and if it is sometimes
more contemplative than dramatic.
why, we can easily stand a degree of
leisure in our fiction. The touch of
ecc!eslasticism, or of theology, which
is lnseparable from his works, is not
in "Jacqueline' so prominent as to
seem at all intrusive.
Mr.. Creswell has written an amusing
extravaganza melodrama about the au-
tomobiling vacation adventures of a
susceptible and impulsive young man,
which will afford entertainment for
other vacations.
There could be no moro authorize
tive critic of Norman Duncan's tales
of Labrador than DR.. Grenfell, who
knows that country better than any
other man, and the reader may thus
accept unhesitatingly his dictum in the
preface to these two volumes. So
doing, he will begin reading them
with keen anticipation, and he will fin
ish reading them with sense of re-
greet that there are no more of them.
Whether in portrayal of titanic bat
things with the elements in that land
OF natures most monstrous passions,
or in depicting the tenderest phases of
human affection, DR.. Duncan welded
the pen OF a master, and he gave US in
these sketches that which became clas-
SIC the moment it was conceived.