Evening star., 1932-09-24
THE LIBRARY TAH
BY SARAH G. BOWERMAN.

The Dutch novelist, 10 Van Ammers-
Kuller, published her genealogical novel
dealing with the emancipation of wom-
en-. THE Rebel Generation" in Holland
in 1925. 1t appeared in the United
States in translation In 1928. 1t has
also been translated into German, Dan
ish and Polish. Three periods are COW
cred in the history OF the Cornvelt fam
lily Of Leyden, 1840, 1872 and 1928.
During the three quarters of a century
many changes take place both in the
family life of the Cornvelts and in the
wool-weaving industry, which Is their
business, passed from father to SON.
Especially Go radical changes appear in
the position and attitude of the younger
generation Of the family. In 1840 the
children of the portentous, harsh Louis
Cornvelt, of whom there are 13, never
question the validity of the fifth COM
mandment, and "honor" means abso-
lutte obedience. BY 1872 signs OF inde-
pendence are growing alarming, espe-
cially among the girls of the family,
who in some cases actually disgrace the
men Of the family by earning their own
living In 1923 the younger generation
accepts dictation from no one; in fact,
the older generation initiates the
younger and bends all its efforts toward
keeping young. Two pioneer women
are the leading characters of the long
story-Marie Elizabeth Sylvan, who
even in 1910 dares to run away from
the safe but prison-like shelter of her
uncle Cornvelt's house and go to Paris.
where she earns her own living. and
DR.. Eliza WiSeman, who In 1872, under
the influence of Marie Elizabeth Syl-
vain, defleS her father, rather liberal
for his time, and goes to the university
to study medicine. The keynote which
Mrs Van Ammers-Kuller seems to stress
is that every generation is a rebel gen.
Grafton" when 1t Is young. and that
conservatism almost inevitably comes
with increasing years.
The atmosphere and characterization
of THE Rebel Generation" are excel
lent. The first scene shows us gay little
Marie Elizabeth Sylvan. orphaned. ar
irving at Leyden from Paris, to make
her home with Uncle Louis Cornvelt,
and met at the stage coach by her
Sanctimonious cousin, Henry Cornyelt,
a divinity student. Immediately the
| feminine members of the family. Mrs.
Cornvelt, corpulent kindly, entirely en-
slaved to her husband, and her four
subdued but curious daughters, prepare
to absorb "Lysbeth" (rechristened by
her uncle good Dutch name") but
| through all the suppreSsionS she man
ages to preserve her own personality,
until she escapes. Sally Cornvelt plays
with the idea Of running away with her
cousin, but in her heart knows she will
never have the courage to leave the big
shuttered windows, within which she
eli mi
household tasks and look forward to no
recreations except needlework around
the polished oval table IN the high
ceilinged, unventilated drawing room
in the evenings, going TO church, visit
ing the poor, or taking enforced walks
with their striding father. Susan seeks
to find an outlet for her personality by
fanatical adherence to sect of pre-
deStinationistS, whose meetings she
attends secretly, for the orthodox parish
church, in which Louis Cornvelt is an
elder, is prescribed for all the family.
Katie makes one desperate attempt at
rebellion when she refuses to marry DR..
William Wisenan. Indicated by her
father as suitable husband. She soon
Succumbs, however, to generally ac-
kepted ideas Of duty and becomes the
mother of the pioneer feminist. Dr.
Eliza Wiserlan. The sons OF the Corn
welt family, being men, are allowed
more freedom than the daughters, but
they, too, are to a great extent victims
Of paternal tyranny.
BY 1872 rebellion is rampant In the
Cornvelt family, is worried over ss
dangerous" by the generation which
in l840 itself made feeble, futile eff
forts at rebellion. Sophia, Cattle, Cas-
sic and Betsy Berkhout, daughters of
Sally Cornwelt, outrage the family by
refusing to be despised pensioners of
their uncles and insisting on support
ing themselves and their mother by
teaching and dressnaking. The ele-
CANT David Cornvelt, professor at the
university and with aspirations toward
a ministerial post, is humiliated by the
open alliance of his only son with a
Socialist group, but finds compensation
in suppreSSing his daughter as success
fully as ever his own father, Louis
Cornvelt. suppressed all his children.
Eliza Wiseman tries unsucceSsfully to
make her father understand that he
himself is responsible for her interest
in medicine; when he does no. weld
she refuses to be suppressed and es.
capes. The last scene in this novel of
three generations shows us DR.. Eliza
Wiseman, old, retired, with all the pos
sible honors of her profession, sitting
alone in her comfortable, big room
in her nephew's house on the Rapen-
burg. rejecting sadly and with puzzled
brain on the fact that life in 1928
seems "a crazy carnival" Her genera
ton took its emancipation seriously
and asked for freedom to work: the
latest generation is bored with its
freedom and is Unsuitable In its chase
after pleasure. She tries to under
faVorite far W great-niece: you see see, I'm an an
old woman and I begin to feel that my
ideas are somehow hopelessly out of
date. And I get so tired of all these
problems-so dreadfully tired-I would
rather be left alone in peace for a
while"
Deafness is treated as a blessing in
Lorna Rea's novel, THE Happy Pris-
oner" Clare Pembridge lives in her
own imagination, to great extent, be-
cause the real world Is so much closed
to her on account Of her deafness. In
this exclusion from much that goes on
around her she is very happy. On So
cial occasions she enjoys watching
peoples faces and builds up for herself
theories of what they are saying and
thinking. The pleasantest and clever
est tnlngS WHICH are SAID are communl-
Gated to her and she escapes all the
quarrelS and the banal remarks. But
when Noel Carstairs meets her, admires
her beauty, and pities her misfortune.
he raises the question of the hopeless
ness of her deafness. A Liverpool spe-
cialiSt is consulted and eventually her
hearing Is recovered. A new life be-
gins, life which is not in all ways
better than the old one When she
can hear all that they say she finds
people less fine and interesting than
when she could only see them. She
marries Noel, of course, and he disap-
points her. The development of the
characters in "The Happy Prisoner"
has much of the insight and subtlety to
be found also in Lorna Rea's earlier
novel, six Mrs. GreeneS."
\ y X
The meeting of two eighteenth cen
tury celebrities. swift and casual. is