Evening star., 1924-10-28
NEW BOOKS
;. AT RANDOM
THE GREEN HAT. Michale Arlen
George II. Doran Co.

into story of his own, loiters around
| on the inside Of 1T. picking up in easy
diversion this odd bit or that inter-
esting one, forgetful-so one thinks
that he has any specific business on
! hand. unmindful, therefore. of any Of
the accented ways of achievement
and ultimate egress. 1.-The Green
Hat. Absurdly futile name for a
really considerable story. But, take
THE Green Hat as example of Ar
lens desultory and casual manner of
literary procedure. Just over the
doorsill of this narrative the eye of
Arlen is holden by the sight of a
green hat, "bravely worn" One has
right to expect something of this
at once, and sits up to a pursuit and
oVertak1ng, all of seemly and deco
rous quality. Nothing like that comes
TO pass Instead, Arlen sets the
young man of his story off into
rambling account of his change from
one house TO another of more COM
Portable promise. This one grows
pensiVely reminiscent of mean
lane' to be left behind in this transit
lane OF joyous and regretful men,
orles, for Il have seen men arrested
there, and I have seen a heavy con-
stable worsted in fight with a little
Jew plckpocket who was for some
time responsible for a rag shop in
our lane. j have seen two buffers
hghtinS in our lane. / have seen a
very old nobleman WOO a flower girl
IN our lane. One night / fell over
the body of a woman lying in the
blood of broken head, and in our
lane by night policemen solace them
selves by smoking cigarettes into the
crowns of their helmets, while cats
must tell you, will never cease to
sport together all about it." And
more and still more about this lane
till Michael Arlen suddenly wakes
himself to the saying of H. G. Wells
that there is no money to be made
out of any book that cannot bring q
woman in within the first few thou
sand words" So, Arlen, already much
in arrears as to the essen tial lady in
his case, sets out. hot-foot, after the
green hat, beneath whose dipped
brim he had glimpsed a fair and
turing face. Just word about this
incorrigibly vagrant strain in Mich
ael Arlen. writer. 1t marks, really,
top notch in his literary work For
Arlen is never more engaging. never
sounder either, than when he steals
away from the straight road of in
'Vention into one of the many by
paths OF his shrewd insight. and DEL
of whatever truth emerges from his
rigorous reasoning and, when, over
the whole of this he throws the spell
of his highly sophsticate manner
and the charm of his genuine word
artistry. Young? Oh, yes, very
young. pose? without doubt. A
youth OF many poses, but. withal,
most astonishing and prodigious
youth. One that has become the
fashion
already had minted for him the word
"Arlenesque." One suffers his many
vagrancies gladly and goes with him
into the side paths in joyous expec-
tation.
x
But-"The Green Hat" This is the
story of Iris March. All of woman's
enchantment belongs to Iris March
and much of mans gaIIantry. A
lady OF good degree, this. whose friends
are sir and lord and lady. so the
behaviors and misbehaviors of Iris
March are cloaked as much as may be
in the silences and ignorings that
well reared people assume as part of
the general suavity of their lives
But the girl makes coneealments diff
cult, since she careers quite distress
ingly in the open. To be sure, it is
hardly her fault that her husband
commits suicide on the night of their
marriage: that is, it would not have
been considered her fault had she not
stepped out in open acceptance. of the
burden of blame. Entirely in char
acter this attitude OF Iris March.
Equally, to be sure, it is not the girls
fault that her next husband, an Eng
lish officer. is shot in Ireland, where
it is quite easy for Englishnen to
come upon their destiny. Neverthe-
less, Iris March comes in for censure
here, as she does for every misfor-
tune or calamity that either directly
or indirectly bears upon the prestige
Of the family to which she. belongs
and the society which it Is her plain
duty to adorn- She accepts it ALL
proving finally in this acceptance that
the male has not cornered and alb
sorbed the full quality of chivalry.
The last Of Iris March glorifies her
gallantry so clearly and so splen-
didly that one shakes himself awake
to a recasting of his first impression
of the girl. Throughout the course
Of the story one gathers here and
there through delicately elusive ap.
proaches to many incidents in the life
of Iris March that here was a woman
no better than she should be, despite
the aloof and delicate and aristo-
cratic quality Of her largesse. But
at the end OF the matter one takes
himself to task for this clearly coarse
Interpretation of a very elusive and
subtle business. We leave it for you
to settle. AS for us, we repeat, we
grow rather ashamed of the easy Gen.
sure that of a certainty bespeaks for
us an evil mind. At any rate, be your
decision what it may, Iris March, in
the face of her final triumph. clears
away much Of the clamor against her.
though she may not absolve herself
entirely in the eyes of perfect chas-
tity.
Do YOU know. Michael Arlen? Have
you read his books? "The Green
Hat" and These Charming People"
raeyi, and The London Venture?
Do you know what songs he can
make out of woman's name? Just
Shelmerdene-"by the grace OF God,
Shelmerdene"-one lady is ehristened
by .Arlen. And he makes Ginning
bells 4of her name and songs that run
like laughing brooks and players that
Groom like far sea waves. And all of
his ladies are fair. The most Of them
are big, with a mans robust quality
of courage and free grace. All of
them are escaping-certainIyn now and
then-into the larger pastures of life.
Whatever they do, whatever they are,
they ever walk in the grace of Mich
ael Arlen's speech--bitter speech
sometimes, sophisticate speech ever.
and always the speech of music and
enchantment.s "The London Venture"
separate from the romances, is a per-
sonal memoir, confession, reminis-
cent of George Moore. Indeed, some
asserted that Moore had taken to re-
confessing his earlier confessions. In
1.-The Romantic Lady" there are two
brothers, both loving the "lady'-one
her husband. the other just an in-law.