Evening star., 1924-11-11
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
AN ISLAND CHRONICLE. William

AN ShnONlSLFss "
Cummings. Alfred A. knopf.
An island eaten out from the Massa-
chusetts coast. An island long, like
hammer widening to its head toward
tho north, or like an outstretched
arm, tho hand a clenched fist. Upon
the island a hamlet Of fishermen
Portuguese That's all. All, in much
the sense that roughly Quarried
block of marble is "all" to a Saint
Gaudens or a Daniel Chester French.
~ 4
AS Mr.. Cummings carves out his
story he holds ever in mind the
dominion of the sea over this island
excluding 1t from the common daily
life Of the mainland, sweeping it with
the wrath of winds gathered from far
unbroken ocean levels, battling it
with fierce waves and burying it in
SHOWS garnered out of the frozen
North This fine Difference to the
seas lordship of the island creates
the atmosphere of the story. A nat
ural atmosphere, upon the whole
bleak in its effect. An effect deep
ened by a vague sense of doom, or
fate, such as the sea out of it's sheer
immensity and cruelty imposes, no
matter what smiling face 1T may for
the moment or the hour present.
Throughout Mr. Cummings makes an
easy and natural use of this environ
ment to sustain and complement the
action itself. And at high points he
deepens the significance markedly
through keenly sensitive use of the
spiritual significance of the sea in its
broodfnR and often sinister implica-
tions. Nobody around here just now
has done II SO well-has done it at
all. in fact. For literary companion
ship in this particular one puts him
over across with Hardy and PHIL
potts.
The story. Portuguese fishermen,
their wives. their sons and daughters
Only one from the outside-Joe, a
farmer boy from Vermont. Around
him much Of the action centers. For
Joe is built to fill the eye OF maidens
and to feed the hope in their hearts.
Next to Joe there is Angela. Angel"
in his heart Joe calls her when he
talks to himself of her dear lowell
ness. And there is Rosie Rosario
born to hard life-born to work, to
love, to hate, to live hard. Rosie
loves Joe, too, as Angela does. And
she sets down a very black mark
against the girl who wins where she
loses. Presiding over the village are
the Three Gossips--just gossips. but
strangely like the three ancient fates
who held so mysteriously the threads
of life and death. A tremendously
effective bit of reality-and Of some
implication quite beyond that-Mr.
Cummings makes of these three
Giorgio Vinti is the great man of
the island, commanding its industry,
giving work to the fishermen or
Withholding it-settling the affairs OF
he island generally. Now Giorgio
is, at heart, an Oriental sultan-his
harem a succession of housekeepers,
each Of feeble and impermanent ten
ure. A most remarkable character
Giorgio Vinti. On one memorable day
the Three Gossips have great things
to purvey. Gforgio Vinti is going to
be married To whom? Nobody
knows. He himself does not know
yet. But Giorgio is tired. willing. at
last to be respectable. And anybody
will marry Giorgio. He is rich And
like all repent tant Old sinners. Giorgio
in his heart chooses the youngest
the most beautiful and the most in
pocent girl of the island-Angela
But before the choice becomes an
open one. Rosie. herself tired. too.
herself willing to be respectable. goes
to Giorgio with her own marriage
proposal The man laughs at the
woman. And Rosie sets down an
other wicked black mark against An
ge!a- And Giorgio, in the role of
honorable headman OF the town
which he. now tired, would in reality
like to be, betakes himself to the
house of Angela's parents. there to
ask the hand of their daughter in
lawful marriage. This bargaining
for Angela is, in quiet way. one of
the most dramatic points of the en-
tire story. Neither the father nor
Angela herself counts The duel i.
between Giorgio Vinti and Angela's
mother. superbly matched in bar
gaining skill, talking in quiet, level
tones, neither missing a single ad-
vantagNthe man to gain his suit,
the mother to press for every con-
ceivable concession that the bargain
can contain and still hold as a bar
gain. So the marriage of Angela 10
arranged and finally consummated.
a mad young man is swearing ven
geance against Giorgio Vinti And a
crazed young woman is scheming to
punish Joe for not loving her and
Giorgio for repudiatin her and An
gela most of all. for winning twice
where she has twice lost. Such is the
situation and such is the impelling
force of this romance.
Sounds bit melodramatic in this
hasty touching Of the high points of
motive and action. Not melodra-
! matte in any sense. Deeply dramatic
| instead. but never so at the ex-
| pense of consistent development of
I individual character beset by prob
! lens and difficulties that lie within
| the boundaries set by this author.
The revenge of Rosie is a part of
Rosie's nature-the ultimate seduc-
| ton of Giorgio, the futile assault
upon Joe's chastity. the daily exhi-
| bitions Of her flaming hatred of
Angela This, Rosie herself. And,
! finally, it all reacts upon the girl
! herself-not because of some moral
! that a silly author might impose, but
| because of the inevitable bareback of
| ones deeds upon ones self Joe's
anger against his rival dies, because
! Joe is Joe and loves the girl and
| wants her to be happy. Giorgio, not
a bad man-when tired-goes back
when he is rested by the ,indiffer-
| ence of his wife, to the blandish-
ments of a new siren, for that is
Giorgio. Inevitably-as the night
| follows the day--this is the Keynote
| of the whole. And at the last, when
| nature herself takes possession of
the island, trampling it, beating it
down in a fierce onslaught of the
elements, in such a storm as you will
| not see again soon-in print-gather-
ing it's toll in the poignant passing
of Joe, then the whole settles to ac-
ceptance-just as it would in life
for what else Is there to do?
| X * y
| Wherein does the difference lie be-
tween this story of the New England
| coast and others that have been
| written about this region. For it is