The New York herald., 1922-11-05
New Fiction
Continued from Preceding Page.
A MORE HONORABLE MAN. By Arthur
Somers Roche. The Macmillan Company

book of more than passing interest and
ing that the subject exceeds the compass
of the story and sticks, awkwardly out of
it, around the edges. Perhaps it is too big
to be compressed into any single novel. AS
Mr.. Roche himself warns us, at the very
outset, Zone is not conscious of ones
limitations in dealing with a personality
no matter how overwhelming it may be.
But with an era, an epoch, 1t is different.
Time itself Brings no solution of the riddles
of the past: how shall one attempt to solve
the riddles of the present." Yet he vail
antly makes the attempt, in this study of
the transition age in America, from the life
of 1890 (taken as an arbitrary starting
poinD down to the present. 1t is a thought
full book, solidly nseaty with suggestion and.
considering the vast difficulties involved in
his plan, it is strikingly comprehensive.
If it still leaves a good deal to be said and
much room for argument, or even disagree
ment with it's doctrines, that is no doubt
inevitable in the very nature of it.
Examined primarily as a work of literary
art, it is excellently built so far as its
dramatic and narrative elements go. II
moves with a fine sweep and its action is
logical, always well motivated But it is
sometimes annoyingly overmannered, lit
tie too frankly self-conscious in its art and
sometimes a little too insistent on minor
detail. For instance one tires a little of
the repetition of Uncle Franks" skill in
splitting his tobacco juice over the rail- 1t
;- ,Ci,,
but he does it too often. A more serious
fault lies in the fact that nearly all the
characters are as Mr.. Roche himself ad-
mits, more personificationS than person
alities. The Magnificent" otherwise Mr.
jameson Briggs Willoughby, is not so
much a man as a walking idea. And there
is always a distinct loss not only in dra-
matte quality but in truthfulness in such
schematic characters Mr.. Roche is con-
scious of this He explains
'The Magnificent. theG, represents an
era; he is no personality. although he
eats and drinks and sleeps and loves and
hates as Napoleon doubtless did.
We are not attempting biography; we
are attempting history Yet if
we could make The Magnificent clear
could define him with his proper lights
and shadows. we might get nearer to the
goal of 'Whats-it -all-about?"
And he does succeed, remarkably, in spite
of the partial qualification just noted He
is even more successful with The Magnif-
cent than with the other, also typical, char
acters.
The story follows the parallel careers of
two young men, from that day in 1890 when
they are in the middle twenties down to
to-day. Willoughby is vehemently called
"yeller skunk" by Uncle Frank the fat
and philosophic hotelkeeper, but even that
severe critic soon sees reason to modify
that verdict He is not at all that kind of
animal, though he is far from faultless.
But he is personiication of efficiency, and
we watch him grow from the ownership of
a small bicycle factory to vast wealth, first
in making bicycles and then in seeing, at
an early date, the coming of the automo-
bile. He also sees the possibilities of the
cheap automobile and ends by becoming the
richest man IN American all the world"
Naturally this implies certain hardness
At an early stage of his larger success.
after he has pulled off, a colossal bluff
by which he clears millions, he complains
to his wife. Ramsey-"Any one would
think, toylisten to you, that I'd done some
thing dishonest" To which she replies.
Haven't you?" And that is the thing in
a nut shell; not exactly dishonest in a mar
row legalistic sense but none the less a
straining of the highest moralities