The New York herald., 1922-08-13

specialist in phychoanalysis.
ABDICATION. BY Edmund Gambler.
+. p. Dutton & Co.
|"o throw light upon all the dark
corners of the political and
social tangle in India is diff
ficult task for a novelist. 1t is easy
and productive of good dramatic ef-
fects to isolate some particular ele-
ment and treat it in the form of a
story. Many more or less competent
novelists have done that, more or less
successfully, but Mr.. Gambler has un-
dertaken the far more difficult task
| OF trying to make a picture of the
whole. His theme is the racial con-
| fiict as it may affect the whole atti-
tude of the British Government in
India, even, some predict, to the re-
suit of a real abdication of all rule.
That theme Is too heavy for entirely
effective handling in this form of fic-
ton. The book is immensely inter
esting, and parts of it stand out as
admirable short stories, but the dis
QUESTION as a whole buries the novel
as novel. In fact, it is not novel
at all, although the characters, ex-
cept Gandhi, are fictitious and there
is a thin thread of what might be
called plot.
One feels sure, however, that each
of the many people studied and
shown in action is drawn from the
life by keen eyed observer. There
is Riley. the ''B. A. Oxon," ex-soldier
and enthusiast, who came to the East
in a rather romantic frame of mind
and fell into the war instead of fol-
lowing the course of adventure he
had p1aned. He becomes a believer
| in Indian Nationalism, "Swaraj,"
complete independence, and feels that
as the British have promised self
government, the logical thing to do is
for them TO get out entirely, though
he is under no delusions as to India's
capacity for self-government. Skene,
the skeptical head of the Department
of Education, asks him-"And let the
! Indians go 10 the devil in their own
way?" to which Riley replies: I'D
rather they went there alone than
that we went with them in a mutu-
ally abhorrent embrace"
The other views of the case are
also adequately stated; that of the
bureaucrats, the moderates. and
others. Old Skene quotes Lawrence's
credo. I'VE are here by our own
moral superiority, by the force of cir
cumstance and by the will of Provi-
dence and in doing the best
we can for the people we are bound
by our conscience and not theirs"
Riley finally gives it up and wanders
off into Tibet.
Among the natives the central fig
ure is the always pathetic and finally
tragic Banarsi Das, failed b. A;
who represents the childish, vacil-
latng inefficiency of the Hindu who
is educated but has nothing TO do.
His career ends in insanity. In con-
trast to him are various types Of
fanatics. Moslem and Hindu. Gandhi
himself appears briefly, giving the
impression of saintship and disin-
terestedness. but the final word about
him is old Skene's, who writes:
Your Mahatma is becoming too su-
phisticatcd a saint to my mind-too
much Of the Jesuit about him. The
course of events since the book was
written, a few months ago, appar-
emily justifies that estimate.
In contrast to Gandhi Mr.. Gambler
shows professional asitator.. of the
tub humping class, who ends by
stirring up riot and getting sent to
the Andamans. 1t is very full gal
lery of Indian portraits and a vigor-
ously stimulative book, though it
leaves the whole problem in the air
where, as a matter of fact, il still is.
THE SH0RN LAMB-By Emma Speed
Sampson. Chicago: The Reilly &
Lee Company.
NK RS. SAMPSON has a happy
V knack of carrying a senti-