The Washington times., 1921-05-08

THE SEVENTH ANGEL"
when Alexander Black wrote THE
Great Desire" be accomplished one
Of the Parsst and most difficult
things Ia life as in literature He
0eatsd something new under the
nm. 1t was of this novel thar
William Dean Howells said. in one
o. the last article to come from his
pom, II do not know of any late or
K early American fiction. or for mat
ter Of that. English fiction, Of %
new . departure In form and spirit"
In his new book. 'srhe Seventh
Angel" Harper & Brother). Mr..
Black continues In this successful
defiance Of the rules of form. Its
story Is that OF the two girls. Anne
Forest and Irma Kane. who return
from war work In France with the
conviction. each in her own way,
that they are coming back to .
world made over. .
In them are represented opposing
types of tho generation deeGned to
carry on amid the wreckaGe pf old
IDEAS and tAe iconfus3Qn 81 new
ones to sink OF swim In the up
hcaval Of standards which Is wars
heritage. But the personal narra-
tive Of Anne f"who was going to do
something going straight and
sure 10 get IL uUne anu ot AEmas
weaker, and desperately In need, In
the psychological dilemma in which
she becomes involved. OF the support
OF her. friend. Is not the whole. nor
the half. of .'rhe Seventh Angel"
Mr.. Black has drawn fer this story
no conventional lbakkgro uhd, sat5sdsd
with the ,'pltcA 2ssiSnSds tDsait by
usage. Thesssbackground sof@ 'The
Seventh Angel" Is like some Great
shifting cloud bank--now recedipg' to
the horizon. now piling up, huge and
black, dwarfinz human fgures Into
mere symbolic specks. The two girls
and the other figures Of the book
radicals, conservatives. business men.
strike leaders, ssoldierss-are some
times effective, purposeful individuals.
At other times they are helpless and
confused, running aimiessly in the
shadow Of the hpvcring storm-the
storm, which, perpetualiy threatening.
never breaks. This background Is
symbolized by the title. rsAccording
to Revelations, 1t was the &eyewth
angels vial which prccipitatedsithe
plague of confusion.
On his vantage point OF elderly
calm. Sidney Maxton. onlooker at life
and the narrator of the story. Is
sufficiently withdrawn from the CEN
! ter Of the conflict to be able to sec
1t as a whole. 1t is dangerous, ami
generally Improbable. to declare Of
character. "This IL the authors
personal representative" and II IL Inn
probable that Mr.. Black would be
willing to accept responsibility for all
of Maxton's philosophy, but ii seems
safe to suggest that In his utterances
there Is a portion, at least. OF Mr.
Blacks own credo.
Though, as already stated. the story
of Anne and Irma is not the whole
OF THE Seventh Angel" II 10 the
thread which binds the whole to-
gether Utterly opposite types. the
common war experiences of the two
girls bring about a deep and strong
friendship. Anne. definite, straight
thinking, inexperienced in much that
goes to make up life. but looking at
all things with steady eyes, supplies
strength and stability for both.
Irma, her feet less firmly on the
ground, inclined to be selfish, but
with certain self-willed courage,
comes to depend more and more on
her friend. :
The crisis in their relations comes
when 1rma, whose, object in going to
France had been to shut out a love
catastrophe and who had returned
thinking that war would wipe the
slate clean of past mistakes, becomes
obsessed by the idea that she must,
in honor, tell Anne of her errors. To
this problem Is added the fact that,
unrealized by Anne, both girls are In
love with Spot Marshall. All the deli
cacy and insight and feeling which
made The Great Desire" one of the
outstanding achievements Of years
are present again In the working out
OF this unusual form of the triangle
IN love.
ON A CONRAD THEME.
"Savages." by Gordon Ray Young,
formerly literary editor of the Los
Angeles Times, leaves the reader with
rather an impression of being a minor
improvisation on Joseph Conrad.
theme. 1t Is tale of the South Seas,
OF tramp schooners. pearl fisheries,
savages. and grim struggle for the
treasures Of the shoals Interest. is
divided between the two principal
characters OF the story: the one a
superman. mater Of the destiniss of |
. numerous native population. outlaw,
rough-and-tumble fighter. yet able to |
read Greek the other young New |
Englander, with generations of Pur-
itanism behind him.
The story gets out Of hand at times, |
and seems to be getting nowhere
especially the part concerned with the |
mission of vengeance on which tho |
New Highlander is bent. But we con-
TESS without shame we sat up till 2 |
3. m, to discover whether the nice
young fellow Of Puritan antecedsnts
would succumb to the charms of the
native girl, Uala. This. we consider
to be quite q tribute to Mr.. Youna's
book. doubleday. Page & Coz
-
Sidney A. Reeves Modern Eco
nomic Tendencies" Just published by T..
p. Dutton d Co., Is a sturdy volume
within whose covers the puzzled
seeker after explanation Of the
alarming conditions and tendencies