New-York tribune., 1922-05-14
Sunday Trbunes News Reviews of Books and Author
A Song of Innocence
By Ernest Boyd

to the pure was shaken. l began to
understand why "Jurgen" was sup
/ pressed in this country. but not in
England, This i, the country of ultra
virile adolescents. With embarrass-
mont in my glance l left him, his
d@mcnic smile haunting me
E'ROM my book shelves took down
the seven volumes which, for the
sake of historical record, ! have SCI,
forth at the head Of these reflections
There is the first little paper-covered
booklet published at the price Of one
form by Elkin Mathews, Of London, in
1905. You will observe that it is by
Arthur Annesley Ronald Frbank, who
Signs himself Arthur Firbank on the
/ title page. 1t was rei.sued in 1916
with illustrations by Albert Buhrer
but without the short story "A Study
in Temperament" and signed by
Ronald Firbank. This is the final cvo-
luton Of that signature, which has
emancipated itself, after the COM
promise Of three initials, from the
Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank of
seventeen years ago. It is the name
with which that vision Of strange de
lights was conjured up whose effects
observed in Fortyseventh Street. A
new shipment OF Firbank is now an
event whose portents I dare not
dwell upon, but prefer to leave to your
imagination For my song is song
Of innocence. Let me confess.
Firbank's work has been known to
ME for years. In fact, the fly leaves
Of his recent "Santal" are adorned
with extracts from anonymous reviews
of mine, mostly from the press of my
native Ireland, which testify to a GER
tain appreciation on my part but no.
where insinuate the dreadful thoughts
which have arisen in his American
readers. In fact all the reviews quoted
share the same discretion; the stadest
periodicals recommend him, and, so far
as | know, the hands of the moralists
have not rested upon him.
FEEL so secure in my sense Of inno-
cence that l should like to con-
slider in some detail the collected works
of this gifted and extraordinary
writer. But as I turn their page.
find that something Of that hectic
Forty-seventh Street atmosphere has
crept into my soul. That happy, fan
tastic, amazing dialogue which is the
whole charm of "Vainglory," "Inclina-
tions," "Caprice" and "Valmouth' sud
denly becomes filled with antiquities
beside which the pleasant inventions
OF Beardsley's "Undcr the Hill" have
the childish simplicity of the obvious
Ronald Firbank is rarely obvious,
and when he is it is with the obvious
ness of Beardsley's illustrations to
"Salome' or the erotic prints of
Franz Won Bayros. He does not take
one into any fabulous world beneath
the Venusberg. nor on such journeys
as Jurgen made, yet before one has
left these ultra m oderns, Lady Parvula.
Mrs. Hurstpierpoint and the ineffable
(if not unspeakable) masseuse in "Val-
mouth" Miss Sinquier in "Caprice,"
Miss O'Brookomore in "Inclinations."
and the rest-before they have gone
very far through Ronald Firbank's i'm
agination, nothing is left even to the
inventions OF the psycho-analvsts.
When Swinburne prayed that he might
find "sin to do ere I die" which
would make life worth living he OBJ
viously pined for the company into
which Firbank rarely fails to introduce
his readers.
Nevertheless, Grant Richards con-
tinues to publish these books, with
their frontispieces by Reps, Augustus
John and Rothenstcin, and not pro-
test is heard in England. Here. I am
told, one is liable to delight wives, but
alenate the friendship of their hus-
bands, by suggesting a short course il
tlrbank. 1t is clear that a lot depends
upon the point of view. Until certain
disturbing phenomena were drawn to
my attention l might have continued
to recommend the works of Ronald
flrbank, conscious that one touch of
virtue make the whole world kin.
But it seems clear that the inno-
cencc of certain circles here is so thin
that the bloom is at once rubbed off
by the expert hands Of Mrs Ya;navalk-
va, whose services are so intriguinclv
set forth in "Valmouth." Thev at once
realize to the full the intentions and
implications of this bizarre and allu-
sive style, which cludes the uninitiatod
In fact, with that community spirit
which is one Of the characteristic mani
1estations of this Republic, they unite
IN 1oint efforts to decipher further
hints of curious carnalities, until the
novels take on the air of Freudian
footnotes, and even the limpidity of
"odette" and "Santal" is troubled.
At the risk of running my reputation
have maintained that Ronald Firbank
is not obscene. His creations move in
world that is outside of time and
space. and their sins are not those of
which the police take cognizance In