Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-10-25
THE SOUL PROGRESS
OF A TEMPERAMENT
Rita Wellman's ''W'ings of De.
sire" Study in Artists
Psychology

THE Wings of Desire" by Rita
Wcllman, as novel is episode in struc-
ture and sketchy in manner. But that
does not mean that it falls to inferior
rank ms fiction in very genuine sense
Though it would hardly pass muster on
the criteria of technical formulas. 1t
rises to very superior level in it's
projection of character in conflicts of
standpoint and ideal with the people
about and the worlds conventions and
in clashes of mood and purpose within
the individual. This. if you please, is
authentic fiction, whether it has for
nal heroine, hero absolute, pilot"
and II purpose, ethical, spiritual. moral,
clinical or what not; whether it is ro-
mantle or realistic; whether it edifies
or amuses: whether it chastcns morals
with smile or bludgcons morals with
a horrible example What matters in
fiction. after all, is the reflection of
| life. not necessarily full face in an
ensconced mirror. but with the subject
and the mirror at the various angles of
plausible temperament and believable
situation aud the candles in the sconces
varying the degree and intensity of the
lighting. .....
Miss Welman iE "'Thc Wings of De
sire has surpassed her study of racial
types and tcmpers, as dramatically set
forth in "Thc Gentle Wife, power
full play that has not vet been staged
And the reason is the same. She
squeezes her drama or story out of her
people. their environments. placements.
/ attitudes and reactions; she does not
force her people into her story. pro-
crusteanally reducing or expanding
them to fit prcconceivcd plot eXigencies
"The Wings of Morning" is conditioned
and colored by its dramatis personae :;
but they are not controlled by artificial
demands of it as formal novel.
These dramatic PERSONS are. cen
trally. an artist and. broadly speaking,
of the artistic temperament colaterally.
the four women who ruled his life from
early youth to past the zenith, including
his foster mother, whom he believed his
real mother an exotic woman, fond of
many men. faithless to all, Il painter
who was not an artist in pigments. but
a terrifying woman of unusual and al
| InOSU lnucCepluplc DeuutN, WHO WIS uu
artist in sensations and emotions an
artists model. delicately youthful. de-
liciously lovely. vet soulless, ignorant.
innocent. beautiful farce in a man s
life and a tragedy in her own. and the
woman who won. the Ann Whitfield to
his John Tanner. an outstanding. hand
some, athletic. whole souled American
girl of the breezy. outdoors. able to-
take care of herself type. These char
acters are accurately and animatedly
drawn. Supplementary characters. such
as the widow with the Plymouth Rock
conscience the grande dame. tolerant,
in the best of taste, of her philandering
husbands escapades; the Greenwich
village optimist and the painter who
practices his art by n time clock are
also all highly humanized.
Amid these folk the artist works out
his temperament. The novel is the
psychology of his unusual and some
what wobbling soul,
/ THE WINGS OF DESIRE. BY Rita Well
man New York: Moffat. Yard Co.
| S1.60