New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-09-03
Some New Novels
By Isabel Paterson

sPELLBfNDERs BY Margaret cpikin
Banning George II. Doran Company,
THE HAPPY FOOL. ny John Palmer.
Hsrcourt, Brace g. Co.
AT SIGHT OF GOLD. By Cynthia Y.on
bardis ID. Appleton 81 Co.
THE RETURN OF ALFRED. Anonymous.
George III. Doran Company.
%M%O NOBODY does the so.ealIed
n problem novel" present q
b greater problem than TO the
III. author while in the act of
writing it. To get your theory
and your story to blend together
smoothly into one consistent whole. to
keep your characters human, while at
the same time coaxing them TO carry a
pack mules load of propaganda, Is not
at all easy. On the other hand, the
mere effort usually secures serious
consideration for the resultant book.
Whatever its value as either literature
or logic. 1t can't, of course, have much
genuine value as the latter. You can
prove anything by manufacturing your
own test cases, and that is what the
fiction writer is obliged to do.
Just what Margaret Culkin Banning
sets out to prove with "Spellbinders'
is not absolutely clear. Perhaps it ia
only that the golden mean is best and
that whether or not woman should 90
into politics depends largely on her own
temperament and her husbands afti-
tude. Gage Flandon couldn't see why
ms wife, Helen, should do so. Didn't
ne give ner everything she wanted ?
was 1t not enough to be beautiful. be-
loved and a successful wife end
mother2 Helen replied reasonably that
he did not give her everything she
wanted, because she wanted to 20 into
politics, to be personality on her own
account, not SIMPLY as his wife The ar
gument, carried into action, nearly dis
rupted their happy home. Gage sur
rendered in the end, but with more of
resignation than conviction. 1t is ex
tremely unlikely that thew would ever
pc completely happy as they were be-
fore the question arose; but. then
time alone has habit of dulling the
first fine careless rapture, and it might
De good thing for married women TO.
nave something to fall back on when
that. is gone.
Margaret Dufield, on the other
niand, had no real choice; her emo
tional GOODNESS made matrimonv inn
possible for her, and her energy de-
manded an outlet. 1t was hardly fair
Tor Walter Carpenter to commit sui
eide because she wouldn't marry him.
he might have, even if she had. Freda
Thorstadt represents the old-fashioned
woman Of wholly domestic tastes-and
she married wild Irish poet and rev.
dictionary! Barbara BROMLEY is a
truly womanly woman according to
the most rigid old-fashioned mascu-
line standard. She hadn't an interest
IN the world but men; heaven pity
her husband, unless she got Turk.
From these various examples one may
draw ones own conclusions Their
creator presents them almost dispas-
sionately, and with just adequate skill.
"A little more depth of character anal
ysis. and distinction of style, and this
would have been notable book of it's
kind.
The matrimonial difficulties of Guy
Beval and his Sabina Tin "The Happy
FoolD are as old as the world, though
complicated by caste differences
which are, for aught we know, equally
venerable. 1t is hard for Americans
to realize how deep the caste marks
are in England. Here, when Cinder-
ella marries the Prince she simply sets
about bringing the palace up TO date
and giving points to the court ladies
on how things should be done But
with the English, it is not only that
WV 0PPSl CiAoS IGGiS superior, the
lower class feels inferior. It's right
in the blood and bones. So Sabina,
the farmers daughter, married to
young Guy, the dukes son, like Lady
Burleigh in the ballad, pinned and fret
ted with the burden of an honor
unto which she was not born" Guy
could have been happy with her, even
if she did curl up her little finger while
drinking tea; but she was jealous of
his old friends and his old ways; she
resented his very kindness. In the
end she brought about her own death
by her foolish jealousy. 1t is likely
enough that she could never have
made contented wife, in any case.
She was the epitome of all that is at
once lovable and impossible to live
with. Lacking only the grain of mad
ness, she is singularly like Lady Car
cline Lamb, Byron's tempestuous and