New-York tribune., 1920-02-29
Compton Mackenzie
Fleta Campbell Springer Sees "Poor Relations
as Logical Climax of His Art

But ! should like to wager that Mr.
Mackenzie himself considers SYLVIA
Scarlet more tragic figure than jenny
Pearl. There was, somehow, a com
pensation In the completeness of Jenny
Pearls disaster which was denied bv
Sylvia. And if, in these later books.
the story has not been so complete, the
end SO irrevocable, | have an idea that
1t is only because Mr.. Mackenzie has
learned that life is hot coherent thing,
to be finished off neatly at a stroke,
and he has found the courage to portray
the Illustration of tragedies rs we'll as
joys Things happen, approach = cli-
max, reccde, are tangled, untangIed, APP
proach q climax again, and again re-
cede, *r flow off. perhaps, in d deadly
calm. SO Carnival" for all its tragic
climax. has seemed to ue less tragic
book than "Sylvia Scarlett" or "Syl-
via and Michael which, in spite of its
and so they were married" ending,
leaves one with the impression that
knowing Sylvia as one has come to know
her through two volumes. she has not
ny any means come to the end Of her
stormy life. One is glad that she has
found love, but one cannot help won-
dering. little uneasily. how it goes
with Sylvis now.
IL one feels, sometimes, that In the
things that happen to Sylvia Scarlott
the author piles it on" a bit, there
Is only one answer for it: In the case
of the Sylvia Scarlctss, life piles it on
Episode follows episode, adventure fol-
lows adventure, color upon color um-
b'ed sometimes Ike life. again ordered
and with that curious effect of design
which life also sometimes displays. All
this he puts before you without COM
ment, ae If 1t passed before you on a
stage. In this he suggests. perhaps
mere than any English author, the
Russian povelists. Yet he is neither 80
simple nor so sophisticated as the Rus
slams. If one suspects that he believes
wickedness to be Yichcdcr than the Rus
SLAMS do-wcll, there are times when
think it is myself. And it saves Mac
kcnzie British SO to speak
Dullness Disappeared
1t WAS during an illness that I read
the two books which comprise the his
tory Of Sylvia Scarlet I wanted to
he entertained. which is to say wanted
to be interested, aud I had tried many
Books in van so that I took up "Syl-
via Scarlet" with the faintest hope Of
really reading 1t through And COM
Plafned no more Of the du]lness of au-
thors for several days. think Compton
Mackenzie must be either very silent
or very exciting companion in real
lie; for ] am sure he is possessed of
= terrible fear Of being bore. There
arc places in his narrative where one
has The feeling that he has cut out pages
ot manuscript solely because upon
reading it over 1t seemed to him little
dull. 1t was probably something most
authors would have left in and most
readers would have Skipped. But Comp
ton Mackenzie does all The skipping for
you himself. lie does not intend that
you shall be bored. And lie does not
insist, at every page, upon the iinpor-
tance and sclemnity Of his art He does
not separate his incidents, as most nov
elis.s feel it their duty to do, with phi
losophicai cornmen1s upon lfe but with
q funny story, q choice bit of foolery,
in order modestly TO remind US that we
are not TO take hin too seriously. A
trait as attractive i'll al author as IN a
friend.
And in his newest novel, "1'hc Poor
Rclctlons,' he has abandoned al pre-
tense Of covering up the ahsurdity of
life. He says to us, Come on, let's
give up pretending we aren't funny, and
enjoy ourselves as we really are" This
is the fulhllment of tnat huroresque