Evening star., 1925-12-06
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

fAfINELL. by St. JOnn ETNlIle. DOS-
ton: Little. Brown & Co.
TIME old mechanics Of biography
no longer serve. Biography is.
in intent, a recreation. Every
i system Of mechanics produces
useful exactitudes. but it does
not reproduce the loose and fluid con-
tent Of human life. so, the artisan,
the mere workman, Is moving out OF
this field. The artist himself in NOV
ing In. In consequence biography now
seeks to re-embody a man in the quail
ties and powers that gave him identity
and distinction. 1t restores, alive. the
time and circumstance out OF which
he drew inspiration and direction. In
the hands of art the whole becomes
vital in spirit, in event, in effect. And
under this new conception biography
is making great headway in the es-
TEEN OF readers generally. A life"
nowadays combines the charm of the
novel and the substance of history IT.
self
1t is from this standpoint Of art that
Philip Guedalla Is projecting "Curiosi.
ties Of Politics. series drawn from
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
gave such color to English political
life.
CT. JOHN ERVINE, novelist and
- dramatist, found in the life Of
Charles Stewart Parnell a novel most
sensational. drama most tragic. In
the premier role stands Parnell him.
self. His immediate background is the
strangest family life that ever led
boy into manhood. A pandemonium of
d family-a dozen children, a mother
so hysterical as to be half mad in her
hatred Of England All more or less
gifted, all under the dominion of
nerves perpetually taut and strained.
Around this immediate setting
stretches Ireland, tempestuous field of
political passion. These Parnells are
English and American. Not a drop of
Irish blood TO make them so outIrish
the Irish. The zeal Of the convert pos
sesses them. Land holders in Ireland.
they espouSe the cause of those around
them against the English.
Yet, thrown into politics by an acct
dent. about the only way a Parnell
would ever get into anything. Charles
Parnell was, five years after this fortu-
itous event, the master Of Ireland.
Eleven years later he was master Of
the House of Commons, with Mr..
Gladstone and Lord Salisbury openly
or covertly seeking his suffrages. Six
teen years later he was dead"
Politicians will read with interest
the policy of obstruction that Parnell
introduced into the House of Com
mons. whereby with only handful of
followers he wrested from the great
ma jority some measures for Ireland
that stand today as his contribution 70
the welfare OF that country. Leader
Of the Irish party. head of the Land
League. advocate Of the boycott-these
are some of the waymarks along the
triumphant career of Parnell. cham
pion OF Ireland. equally loved and
hated by this mercurial and uncertain
people Strange man. greatly hated,
greatly loved. Oh mess Of a man in
the contradictions that fought together
within this single distraught personal
ity,
Then, Parnell fell. 1t was woman
Mrs. O'Shea. At this point in the
story you will he almost as interest ed
in st. John Ervine as in these lovers
For Ervine is understanding and un-
critical and diffident in accusation. He
counts the whole of ParnelTs nature
here as he has so counted at every
step along this study. You'll not agree
with Ervine, but you'll read this part
of the story more aVidly than YOU will
the years OF his clear. political service.
years when because of this service he
became the 'uncrowned King of Ire
land"
No need TO go back to Sophocles for
pure tragedy. No need to search dim
shelves for narrowing old tales of fic-
ton. Instead. go back only about so
years for the true story of Charles
Stewart Parnell, who captured the
great English House of Commons and
held 1t while he did service for Ireland
RUBEN AND IVY SEN. BY Louise
A,-In
etc. New York: Frederick A
Stokes Co.
I ONG before the story itself opens
the romance began in Washing
ton when an English girl fell in love
married him. When the story does
| begin. it presents the widow living
in England with her two children,
Ruben and Ivy Sen. The boy is OBJ
viously a Saxon--big and blond and
sturdy. The girl is as clearly Chi
nese-slight, slant-eyed, salloW. The
story deals with the growth of these
; two, with the curious racial strains
| that cross each other here in frus-
! out that the boy, despite his English
| look, is at heart an Oriental. feeling
! the call Of old Ho.nan. where his
| fathers clan had lived immemorially
| in distinction and power. And II
turns out equally that the girl hates
| her slant eyes and her sallow brown
skin. hates her dead father for CIV
| ing her so clear a racial stamp.
! Under this complete handicap to hap
piness the romance proceeds through
| the childhood and youth of these two.
| The boys journey to his father S
| home gives the authot opportunity
! to spread out many a scene of Chi
! nese life. to depict many an ancient
! family rite and custom and to endow
these with the spirit that this writer
herself appears to have absorbed
through a long and beloved intimacy
with China and its people. y heauti-
| full and convincing story, worked out
! in the conflict of deep-seated feelings
and instincts in the mixed blood of
| these children. The setting of the
romance-both the English and Chi
| nese setting-iS of a quality with the
study Of character itself.
X X X
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