New Britain herald., 1925-06-25
m m THE BOOK SHELF & m
PASTELS
 AND PORTRAITS

The eyes of the literary world, and especially the eyes 6t those pa irons of the best In letters who have long looked to Joseph Conrad as the chief adventure and sea story arch itect of this or any other age, are today and 100 per ceh being fo- cussed on two exceptionally talented followers Of the dead genius--Wil- Ham McFee, born in Scotland bu, withal naturalized American, and Francis Brett Young, an English man.
 Both McI7ce and Young have writ ten several volumes of exceptional merit, and If we are to believe what the reviewers say, Conrad's laurels are indeed none too secure. We have it from that critic of critics. himself. that perennial fault finder, II. l.. Mencken, that "McFee's English is better than the great Poles ever was, even at the last. It ripples beautifully. It Is brilliant, with arch ana gaudy ilashes.
 Speaking of McFee's books, Com msnd" and Captain Macedoine's raughter," Mencken continues In his warm praise of this retired engineer of the British Merchant service. Cit ing in particular, Command" he says, Here, I believe, is one of the best novels done in English since the opening Of the century. .. Conrad himself would not have he en ashamed of "Command". ... there are parts of Command" Con rad himself could not have written" Strong praise this. coming from H. l.. Mencken.
 Young, according to this same critic, still has some ways to go be- fore he can catch up to Command" but he is plainly on the way. His latest, Sea Horses" just out, has considerable attention, and this volume Mencken also finds rather praiseworthy. It is the typically Conradean story" he says, "of a hard boiled sea captain who yields to a gross sentimentality." The crit ic at the same time deplores the ending of the tale which he says sinks slowly into a pool of chival- ric mush-gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.'
 Nencksn states that Young has certainly mastered many of Con- rad's artificialities of style, but has tens to add that his work is evi- dently that of the disciple rather than the master. Young, according to this authority, never seems able to make his meIodrama feel quite real, something Conrad never failed to do.
 Of the two, Mencken concludes, McFee shows by far the greater promise; but Young is still very much to be reckoned with. In any case, both are leagues beyond any and all who may consider them- selves as contemporaries.
 
 But, though Mencken would have us believe that Young is still great distance behind Conrad. there are others who are of decidedly contrary opinion. Chief among these is none other than Hugh Wal pole. who declares, speaking Of Young's Sea Horses" it is unlike fly that a finer piece of English prose will appear in America this year." Walpole classes as unfair the ten dency of critics, Mencken included, Ito compare Young to Conrad. He declares that such a comparison is grossly unfair, especially since though both have been at their best when writing about the sea. still still both are essentially different. as different as the two races from whence they sprung. Their out looks could never coincide, Walpo|e asserts, for Conrad was. after all, stamp of merit from the welter of English seamen, he could not write as an Englishman about England.
 Francis Brett Young, Walpole de- clarcs, is one of the six great Eng fish writers of today. of that young CT generation, none Of whom is very far past their 10th birthday. The other include F. M. Forster, n. H. Lawrence. Virginia Woolf, sheila Kaye Smith and Frank swinnerton. These, Walpole adds, are all that have emerged with the stamp of merit fro mthe welter Of more than 1,o00 who have had books published in England during the past twelve month.
 And so the world waEs. Conrad is dead and the world seeks his sue cessor; readers seek him, and ayidly. Who shall he be? Mencken says either McFee or Young; Wal pole says no 10 Young's candidacy. Young Is patently the disciple, not the master, says Msncken. Youns Is Young, not Conrad, Jr.. says Wal pole. The answer, then. rests with the reader. If we are to point out any one writer of sea and adven- ture stories as 2 successor to Con- rad, who shall we designate, McFee or Conrad. or both. or neither The question Is interesting,
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