Evening star., 1932-01-30
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY the BookIorer

Victoria Mary Sackville- West, daugh-
ter of the third Baron Sackville OF
Knole Park and wife of Harold Nicol-
son, diplomat and writer OF entertain
ing biographies, belongs TO the younger
group of English writers OF fiction
whose interest is in psychological states
rather than in plot. She became known
to American readers through her move!
THE Edwardians," which shows the
reign Of Edward VII as a period when
the preservation of aristocratic class
appearances was considered more I'M
porant than actual adherence to Tradi-
tional morality. v. Sackyille-West. as
she signs serself, has also written
Poems Of West and East, The Heir, "
"Challenge," which was suppressed IN
England but published in America, and
The Land" collection Of poems which
received the Hawthornden Prize in 1927.
Her recent novel, "All Passion Spent, "
goes beyond any of her previous work
in originality and subtlety Of style. 1t
Is story of old age. The heroine Is
81 when the story opens. NO young
people appear in it, except for a brief
scene near the end when Deborah Hol-
land, t-granddaughter CT Lady
Slane, comes to see her for an elusive
reason and their broken, elliptical con-
versation supplies the clue to Lady
Slane'S hfe-a life which has been
highly successful according to the
standards of the world and reasonably
happy according to her own, but has
missed what would have Deen for her
the best The dedication OF the book
to the authors two small sons is IN
teresting For Benedict and Nigel,
who are young, this story OF people who
are old" X
The style of v. Sackville~ West like
that of her friend Virginia Woof, is
delight In It's sparing, suggestive, well
chosen words, elegance OF phrasing, and
delcaCy of portraiture. The opening
sentences of the book. telling OF the
death Of Lady Slane'S husband, are a
masterpiece of epigram and philosophy
Henry Lyulph Holland, first Earl OF
Slane, had existed for so long that the
public had begun to regard him as i'm
mortal. The public, as whole, finds
reinsurance in longevity. and, after the
necessary interlude of reaction, l. dis
posed to recognize extreme old age as
a sign of excellence. The long-liver
has triumphed over at least one Cf
mans initial handicapS, the breyity of
life. To fitch 20 years from eternal
annihilation is to impose ones supe-
riority on an allotted program. So small
is the scale upon which we arrange
our values. 1t was thus, with start
of real incredulity, that city men, open
ing their papers in the train on warm
May morning, read that Lord Slane, at
the age of "a, had passed away sud-
denly after dinner on the previous eve
ming" The elderly and old children
of the dead nobleman gather almost
instantaneously. "old black ravens" as
the youngest, unmarried Edith, thinks
as she looks them over in the Shrouded
drawing room. They are not a very
attractive group. One hardly wonders
that old Lady Slane, after years Of
being their mother, loves none Of them.
Yet one does wonder that, with such
a brilliant, distinguished father anI
such an artistic, original mother, not
one of the children is interesting. How
ever, such things do happen i'll life. The
blackclad sons and daughters, sons in
law and daughterS-in-laW. chant and
croak in chorus that mother is Won
derful" in her compoSure. Alone with
her dead husband in the upper room,
Lady Slane is filled with thoughts that
would greatly have surprised her chill
dren, could they but have read her
mind"
After the funeral, when the children
assemble to decide what shall be done
with mother a very realistic scene,
duplicated hundreds of times in real
lifeD, Lady Slane gives them a shock,
and enjoys doing it, by telling them
that instead of spending her remaining
days in sections at their various homes
she will live alone with her old French
maid in a small house at Hampstead.
She adds that they need not come to
see her very often and that she eSpe-
cially wants to see none Of her grand
children or grandchildren, as she
cannot endure youth, with its forward
outlook, but wants only age about her,
with its backward look on life nearly
finished. There is horror, also relief,
on the part of all the children. The
wonderful chorus changes TO mother
has always been queer" In the new
life of Lady Slane there are three
friends. all member eccentric landlord,
Mr.. Bucktrout; the old-fashioned crafts
man who redecorateS the house. Mr..
GoSheron, and an old man, friend OF
one of her sons. who had known her in
India and loved her from afar, Mr..
Fitz George. For the last year Of her
life, With all passion spent" she is
free-free from the conventions OF her
society, free from the personality of a
dominant husband, free from the neceS-
sity of being the sort of mother her
children expect and believe her to be.
1t is too late for her to be the artist
she has once wished to be, but that
seems to matter little. For the first
time in her life she is understood. Her
three friends and she have the same
view of life, not the view of important,
successful people, but the view of the
dreamer, the idealist, who looks for
beauty and freedom. "All Passion
Spent is a surprising study of old age
to have been made by a young woman.
The title is taken from Miltons Sam
son AgoniSteS."
His servants he with new acQuiSt
Of true experience from this great
event
With peace and consolation hath disnist,
And calm of mind, all passion spent"
Now an old man, Gabrielle D'Annun-
zio has finished his career as an author
and leads a life of luxuried leisure,
dressed in robes resembling those Of
Franciscan friar. All of D'Annunzio's
best work in poetry, fiction and drama
was done between 1890 and 1910. His
most successful novels are THE Tri-
umph Of Death" THE Virgins of the
Rocks" and THE Flame" His best
plays are The Dead City" which he
wrote for Sara Bernhardt and La
Gioconda," which he wrote for Eleonora
Duse. During the World War Dan
nunzio became a patriot and politician
and went about making stirring
speeches. He then volunteered for
active service and was in the cavalry,
infantry, navy and air service. In spite
of his age Che was born in 1859, he
won spectacular success as an aviator,
flying through storms of bullets, drop