The New York herald., 1922-09-24

one eulllUu. ANOE was tuc AudW VI
yawning for any idea.
Doubtless Edith Wharton IS
"Glimpses of the Moon" will be care
fully cut and pasted into theatrical
form. Yet "The House of Mirth,
which made proportionately noisy
splash in the world of letters when it
was published, could not breathe in the
atmosphere of the stage. The two
books are, however, more alike than
any others that Mrs. Wharton has
written. 1t may be that Susie Lam
sing is the daughter Of Lily Bart
She is at all events her lineal literary
descendant. Are the Little Sisters OF
the Rich all akin?
Two Kinds OF Venice.
The link between Mrs. Wharton's
novel and Mr.. Howells's study of this
particular American girl abroad. when
all the sisters of Daisy Muller were in
ternationally interesting, is strongest
of course in the scenes of Venetian
life among the expatriates dwelling
til re. Mr. Howells wrote of the
Venice he knew in the days of his
consulate. Then the Austrian Of
ficers ate their ices at F1orian's on
the Piazza San Marco and their uni
form dominated the scene. Probably
the Austrian ascendency. however
affected slightly the social life of the
Americans Mr.. Howells wrote OF
what Mrs. Wharton might have called
venice's age of innocence. 1t was long
before the Lido had become one of the
social plague spots of Europe. There
was not then the slight social blight
on the life of the foreigners in the
canals of the Queen of the Adriatic
that there has been in greater de-
gree in Japan. 1t was not the goal OF
runaway wives and husbands, snirched
divorces and others seeking the social
amnesty that life in foreign colony
usually assures.
This is not suggested in the life OF
those visitors there in the rather early
sos. Doubtless Mr.. Howells under
stood his meter there quite as well as
Mrs. Wharton. But she knows the
set" OF which she writes as no other
novelist OF the day. Fancy the con-
fusion of the average reviewer of fic-
ton when confronted with such a book
as "Glimpses OF the Moon" What in
the world does he know from expert
ence of this hard, brilliant, selfish and.
in the final analysis. money loving
crew, struggling so hard to make life
yield what in the end is a reward that
satisfies them alone? Their whole
philosophy of life is summed up in
the inquiry of one victim If anybody
in the world ever had all the money
he wanted That is her explanation for
divorcing her husband to marry man
of different race and standards.
Morals Now and Then.
Such morals make Mrs. Wharton's
men and women difficult to transfer to
the stage. They are so Incompetent
sible to everybody else but them
selves. So few men and women in
any other walk of life would take the
least pleasure out OF the prizes for
which they so violently struggle.
Would not Nicholas Lansing be alto
gether misunderstood by any audience
He leaves his wife for fancied so ial
delinquency and goes to live on the
rich Western family, so highly appre-
ciative of culture and learning until
genuine social Importance in the way
OF some more or less permanently
itinefant royalty crosses it's path.
Then they crook their backs in the So
cial hyperlatria which such eminence
deserves in that set The youthful
American husband. having abandoned
his wife in fit Of nice resentment OF
her obsequiousness to her friends does
not quite marry the daughter Of this
family, even though a divorce at one
time impends. 1t would be difficult to
make the motives Of life in this world
comprehensive to the large public OF
a theater.
The aims Of Mr.. Howells's heroine
are easier to grasp. She Is drawn in
more academic outline. Her colors are
more in accordance with the primary
scale. Venetian life in his book is not
unlike the existence in American
watering places. which led a sophisti-
Gated traveller to say that. charming
as the average place OF summer so.
journ In this country may be, II al.
ways seemed as if IL must have been
80 much pleasanter twenty years be-
fore.
Certainly life was less complicated
then. Its difference is reflected in thu
two American novels that deal with
the American expatriates. IL some
ambitious manager ever seeks TO put
"Glimpses OF the Moon" on the stage
he will soon realize in what a slight
degree the characters correspond tc
the stefACils OF the theater. Meticulouf
shades N character are not to be In.
tcrpretedtn the average drama. Over
III EnginA they are complaining bit.
terly than VArs - only incident. and