The Washington herald., 1922-07-29
MODERN SOCIETY
LATEST THEME OF
EDITH WHARTON
"Glimpses of the Moon"
Finds Greatest Happi-
ness in Poverty.
.GLIMPsEs OF THE MOON, B,

Edith Wharton. (Appleton.)
In "Glimpses of the Moon" Mrs
Wharton has descended to the level
|. to some, the mud. of med
ernism.
That she has done II well is beside
the point to any reader who admired
the dignity and distinction and re-
serve of her earlier literary habits.
"Glimpses of the Moon" is a novel of
that class of society spelled with a
large So and most popular with the
shop-girl! that glittering. immoral,
uneducated. misunderstanding small
minority of the very wealthy. Such
people as she treats must exist. for
Scott Fitzgerald and Mrs. Humphrey
Ward and Robert Chambers are con-
tinually writing pieces about them
Mrs. Wharton herself writes about
them so convincingly that the
reader is absolutely and breath
lessly absorbed from the conven-
tionally romantic opening page to
the ultimate melt-into-each-ot others
arms and -live-happily-ever- after.
One is so sorry for the poor. alb
sorbed. adulterous rich people. and
the little hanger-un heroine that one
misses compltely the beauty of Mrs.
whartons writing. The text is
breathless. and rather absurd.
A young couple with almost no
niceties of scruples. even IL pos
sessed of a fundamental comprehen-
sion Of the sixth, seventh and eishth
Comma andments, and with even less
money, get married and plan to live
on the bounties of their friends.
They have suffered the misfortune
each of falling in love with each
other. and each has lived the same
precarious existence, dependent on
the kindnesses of their wealthy
friends. The book begins on their
honeymoon at a borrowed villa on
the shores of Como, and the two
have planned to live on wedding
checks. They have entered into an
agreement that when either could
do better. in matrimonial ventures,
they would part.
And then Nick, the hero. devel-
opes latent scruples. He exhibits
certain finenesses unexpected and in
compatible with a man avowedly
living by his wits, or more exactly.
his available personality. Still, the
worst criminal may have decent
moments. and one Is inclined to for
give Nick for being, as Mrs. whar-
ton says. suddenly Perpendicular"
But when he finds for the second
time that his wife lacks these
spasms of squeamishness, he leaves
her.
Although both of them are ex-
posed to attractively fleshed wealth,
they eventually get together again.
and by the agency of five healthy
children. decide that there is great
est happiness in genteel, sef-re-
specting poverty.
The thesis Is interesting, and the
conclusion a bromide, but the one
does not follow from the other in
this novel. For the two centers OF
the work would by training en-
vironment and characteristic tastes.
revert to the lives they have lived.
One closes the book feeling that
Mrs. Wharton has left them at an
intermediate point and that the cur
tain is dropped over their final re-
version to type.
Mrs. Wharton has demonstrated
her ability to be modern in this age.
Here is none of the gentility of The
House of Mirth." but a harsh, coarse
picture of the vulgar rich. She does
not draw back from her picture with
the swish of many petticoats with
which one associates her. She goes
into her disigreeable subject of the
empty foibles of the fashionable 1922
with firmness and zest. But II Is
not much like Mrs. Wharton:
Because there is SO much OF lit
erary mysteries in print today, So
many green pink snakes and green
elephants in the delirium tremens
popular in the name OF modernism.
1t is too bad to see as excellent a
craftsman as Mrs. Wharton get
caught in the pool.
The dress of "Glimpses of the
Moon" is as discouraging as the life
pictured within 1t has a jacket
like a dime novel and the printing
and paper to match. 1t is an insult
to any author. not to mention an ar
:ist of the caliber of Edith
Wharton