The New York herald., 1922-10-22
NEW FICTION
I'M
VARIED FORMS

III
II prime mportance-dealing with
the tragic problem of the negro in
America, following close upon Mr.. T. S.
Striblings "Birthright" and Mr.. H. A.
Shands's "White and Black" which at
tracted nationwide attention last spring.
Mr.. Wood is far and away superior to his
predecessors in this field as an artist; his
approach is always that of the poet. the
maker of dramatic, representative art, and
indeed in this book one gives his work an
almost startled attention. for although it
is by no means his first notable produc-
ton it leaves one with the feeling that he
is only now beginning really to find him.
self. 1t shows power in the stark, abb
solute brutality of tragedy in some scenes
that drives one to Marlowe or Webster for
a comparison, and it has perfection of
proportion that the great Elizabethans
sometimes lacked-a symphonic quality.
But the race troubles of the country are
to-day of so very grave moment that a
book upon the subject has responsibilities
other than the artistic. Hence 1t becomes
necessary to point out that Mr. Wood, fol-
lowing a legitimate artistic necessity per-
haps, has limited his novel to the state
ment of but one side of the case. Dramatic
necessity drives him: it is the tragedy of
the negro which he is showing. 1t is ut
terly honest in its portrayal of the hopeless
suffering of the blacks, of the unspeakably
hideous brutality of the white mobs, yet II
leaves one with an uneasy feeling that
there Is a good deal to be said upon the
other side-that needs to be said in any
statement of the case--which Mr.. Wood is
deliberately overlooking. The wrong sort
Of fercely partisan novel on either side
would be a poor gift to humanity. Quite
possibly. however, Mr.. Wood may feel that
the white mans case is sufficiently familiar.
Like the others, Mr.. Woods story offers
no panacea; he is not preaching. He leaves
matters where he finds them. Yet not
quite, since a better understanding of facts
is a prerequisite to any solution. There is
as yet no way oct but such efforts as
these to understand lead to a hope that
time and patience may find one
Niger" is a tale of three generations.
with a glimpse at the fourth now in its
whole. In weaker hands it would have be-
come spasmodic. fragmentary. or too cpl
sodic, but MIR. Wood holds to the main
theme with unerring skill. 1t opens on the
note of fear; the theme of man, primitive
man, not necessarily the black man only
awaling to life to find himself unaccount-
ably set down In an environment altogether
TaLy iS a
opening of the book. slave upon planta-
ton In the BLACK Belt" Of Alabama, and
his first memory is that of the hollow
baying of the bloodhounds' and their visit
to the cabin. 1t is an opening at high
pitch. but the reader must not suspect it
of the slightest taint OF melodrama or
staginess. 1t is rather Elizabethan in its
dignity The fatefu (and not In the least
conic) iteration of the bullfrogs in the
morass-"Knee deep! Knee deep!
Better go 'roundi Better go 'round!" plays
an important part in the orchestration of
sounds and sights that Mr.. Wood keeps
always strongly in hand.
Jake is a noble figure, not because of his
virtues Or in any theatrical. Uncle Tom"
sense, but because of his utter humanity.
He does not escape the faults of his race,
nor those common to all races, but they
are so counterbalanced by the fundamental
virtues. kindness, thrift. honesty, COM
mon sense. lovableness, that one not only
respects but feels affection for him. One
senses in Jake the quality that led Charles
Lamb to write: Il have felt yearnings of
tenderness toward Some of those fapeS-
OF rather masks-that have looked out