Evening star., 1932-08-22
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Templeton Jones had just finished
reading two excellent novels, and he fell
to thinking about them, as one will do
when stories are good.
They were about as different IN tone
as works Of fiction could be. More
than thousand years separated them
in publication dates. The scene of one
was laid in Japan. and the other en-
compassed England, the United States
and the islands of the South Seas In q
single gulp.
The Lady of the Boat" was written
by japanese lady in the tenth cen
of England last year and this.
The japanese novel. as presented in
translation by Arthur Valley, is the fifth
part of a tremendous story which
might have been written yesterday, it
is so modern in feeling.
PARKWAY" made Templeton Jones
think of Robert Louis Stevenson, not
only because the latter's most famous
story is Treasure Island" and Far
away" is the latest of the treasure
search novels, but also because the two
books represent what Jones liked to call
deliberate intent fiction, rather than
spontaneous fiction.
Perhaps Jones classification needed
a note Of explanation. He had always
felt that certain great novels, growing
out of the spirit of the times, were
spontaneous in way that no other
sort of work could be.
The Stevenson masterpiece, on the
other hand, was created by its author
with deliberate intent to tell a "whop-
per-" Stevenson made it out of the
whole cloth, as it were, to please a
younger companion.
Mr.. Priestley, whose Good Com
panions" and Angel Pavement" made
such a "hit," wrote his new book, it
seemed to Jones, as deliberate at
tempt to keep up the fame he had won.
Now, no one Is to be blamed for such
an attitude, but, on the other hand, no
astute reader Is to be censured for feel
ing that this evident deliberate intent
greatly detractS from the goodness Of a
novel, and forever debars it from in
clusion in the roll of honor which holds
the names Of the really great works of
fiction
Critics OF previous volumes of 1.-THE
Tale Of Genji" (the general title OF the
series, as written by the japanese LADY,
compared them with the French novels
of Proust, intimating that a dash of
Fieldings tom Jones'" and even of
THE Arabian Nights" was to be found
therein.
Templeton Jones, reader, hence critic
had not read any of the other volumes
but was impelled to the purchase OF
THE Lady Of the Boat" by whackine
good review which praised 1t to the
sky and caused him to believe that he
in turn, would like it.
AS he read, his delight grew, and
when he had finished it he did some
thing rare for him-he began 1t all
over again, and went through 1t q
second time, with increased satisfac-
tion.
A book has to have something to
withstand any such treatment. that
was why Jones had no hesitation In
recommending The Lady of the Boat
to his friends
At the same time he hoped they
would have read Jane Austen's Emma
and Mansfield Park"
The dear critics who had compared
this Japanese writer with Proust hac
forgotten all about Jane. she whose
placid, pleasant novels of English man
ners will live as long as books hold
together.
The same attention to trifies charac-
terizes both, the same evident belief
that what Is interesting in the daily
life of a human being. If well told. will
be interesting to readers who under
stand
This good telling depends. first, upon
art, and, second, upon work. The
pages Of THE Lady of the Boat" are
filled with those interesting trivalities
which make up the life of most human
beings. but so phrased that they show
the understanding heart of the ready
writer.
Hence, Templeton Jones could not
quite make up his mind how much OF
his pleasure he owed to the ancient
Japanese lady and how much to Mr.
Valley. the translator.
In fact, he caught himself wondering
upon occasion. whether there ever
was a Lady Murasaki. and whether
Mr.. valley had not written this entire
gigantic tale himself
How else could it have gotten SO