Evening star., 1923-09-29
The ; Library Table
I BIZ THE BooKLovER

! AS old as the beginnings OF fiction
are the two situations of the unhappy
marriage and unhappy relations be-
tween parents and children. or the
two the unhappy marriage has al
ways, been far more popular, but An
parents and children date
back many centuries in fiction and are
decidedly on the increase today. In the
anonymous twelfth century romance,
"Auoassia and ~Nicolette,".one of the
earliest oof prose romances. the. tyran-
'niea1 father Count Garirl, makes him.
self q great nuisance to the two
young lovers, though he affects their
ultimate happiness not at ALI. Six
centuries later Fielding arouses our
sympathy for the sweet Sophia West
ernG tbecanse her father, the violent,
ch-drfnking Squire Western, shuts
her UP in her room until she snail
give up the idea Of marrying Tom
Jonas, ..-a. -. -. vn: z@a
~~.x x'% -a:.~...
; In modern fiction the parent-chil
dren situation has changed with, the
times. Physical tyranny has given
place to psychological tyranny. and
often there is no tyranny at adjust
antagonistic, insuperable incompati-
biHty.S g Parents hold the old idea that,
their children owe them obedience.
respect. devotion, whether or not
these are deserved; children subscribe
to the newer theory. that they owe
and on the contrary often feel exist
ence on. their parents terms a, griev-
ance, - Samuel Butler began the
novels embodying this mental atti-
tude in The Way of. AL Flesh" puh-
In this book Theobald Pontifex. rec
tor at Battersby -on-the-Hi and his
wife Christina, by their lives given
over to conventional religious. observ-
ances a,ss and their strict family dis
children, particularly. in their son
Ernest, only feelings, of disgust and
dislike amounting practically to
hatred. So, partly to avoid repetf-
tfon of this family hostility and
partly for other reasons Ern est; later
places hisrown two children with .fos-
ter parents OF humble station and has
them brought up.to a simple physical
lie. free from thought complexities.
! - - ~ r. -
= George Bernard Shaw. in his essay
on Parents land Children" which
serves as q preface to his play Mis-
alliance" expresses his ideas on the
relation OF modern parents and chill
dren-the same ideas which underlie
the situations referred to in present.
day fiction. He says: Children and
parents confront one another as two
classes in which all the political
power is on one side. Every
child has right to it's own bent.
st's 1T has q right toi.disiike it's
mother or father or sistersor brother
rY- mn
pathetic to it. 1t has right to find
its own way and go its own way.
whether that way seems wise or fool
ish to others. exactly as an adult has.
1t has right to privacy as to its
own doingss and it's own affairs as
much as IL 1t were its own father.
The old observation that
members of large families get on: In:
the world holds good because in large
child to receive what schooimasters
call individual attention.
The family ideal is q humbug and
nuisance. II you compel an
adult and child to live In one an
others company, either the adult or
the child will be miserable"
X **
Some other modernfsts in fiction
who share these unorthodox views
Of family life are Hugh Walpole, J. D..
Beresford and Gilbert Cannan. II
may or may not be significant of per-.
sonal attitudes, but all three, az did
Samuel Butler, select clergymen for
their examples of undesirable fathers
IN '"The captives," by Hugh Waipole.
the Rev. Charles Cardinal. rector. Of
St Dreot's in South Glebshire, is espe-
cially undesirable from the. stand
point of his daughter Maggie, who at
his death finds that he has left all his
small property to Ellen, the cook,
who has been his mistress for some
years past. In These Lynnekers,"
by ]. ID: Beresford. Mr.. Lynneker, rec
meaning. but conventional. reserved
and irritable. Mrs. Lynneker+ Is an
ineffective worrier. The whole at
mosphere Is strained and unfriendiy
taking orders. and perhaps becoming
like his father. as the worst fate.
that could befall him. When Mr. and
Mrs Lynneker die, their children view
their deathbeds with only such pity
as one would feel for any suffering,
dying human being. Gilbert Cannan.
in his recent novel, Round the Cor
ner," presents still another clergy
man, the husband Of fatuous. whin-
ing wife and the father OF seven or
to anything. In this case the family
discomfort is less one-sided, as
neither parents nor children find
much satisfaction in family life. They
Jog along rather better, however, than
the families in the other novels men
toned.
Outlines of knowledge, initiated
by II. G. Wells in his Outline Of His
tory" and by the Outline of Science"
are becoming one OF the literary
signs of the times. Now John Drink
water has for the moment turned
aside from the drama ana has pub
lished Volume I of THE Outline of
Literature" which is to run to three
volumes. Like 1.-THE Outline of Sci
ence," 'The Outline of Literature. is
hardly for scholars; it is doubtful. IL
it, will even make much appeal TO
the wide and habitual reader. 1t is
necessarily and Intentionally ele-
mentary and general. It may be very
useful in instructinE young people
and others whose knowledge OF ~litera-
ture Is slight or as a means of quick
review for those whose knowledge is
greater. This first volume has only
2S5 pages, which are divided into nine,
chapters: .'The First Book Of the
World" Homer" "rhs Story of the
Bible,' ''rhe English Bible as Litera-
ture." 1.-THE Sacred Books of the
East" Greek Myth. and ptlie Poets,":
tGreece ana Rome" "The Middle