Evening star., 1933-10-15

ford the country home of Gen. and Lady
Cherrell, is as charming with its yew-hedged
rose garden and its crumbling mullions. In
the Cherrell (but spelled CharwelD series Gals
worthy has apparently aimed to do for the
postwar period what he did in the "Forsyte
Saga" for the nineteenth century-to spread a
broad canvas of an era, covered with many
figures chief of which belong to one large
family. The Cherrells do not, however, ap-
proximate the Forsytes as representatives Of
their age. There is in them no such family
type as in the Forsytes. But the postwar
period is not one of few types, but of
medley, even of chaos. Perhaps Galsworthy
intended to indicate this. In workmanship the
three Cherrell novels are far less sure, more
given over to trifing detail, than the Forsyte
novels.
IDA ELIZABETH. BY sigrid Undset Trans
lated from the Norwegian by Arthur G.
Chatter. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
THIS study of the marriage of Ida Elizabeth
and her husband, Frithjof Braato is a
modern novel, of the type of the two connected
novels The Wild orchid and "The Burning
Bush" For the time being, at least, Sigrid
Undset has left thirteenth century Norway.
after employing it so powerfully in her two
series, "Kristn Lavransdatter' and The Mas
ter Of Hestviken." Whether depicting thir-
teenth century life or twentieth century life,
she is absorbed in the problem-or problems
of marriage, and marriage appears even under
the best circumstances to mean conflict. There
is the situation, so interesting to her since her
conversion to Roman Catholicism, Of the con-
f1ict between husband and wife Of differing
religions, or when one is Catholic and the other
agnostic or Indifferent. There IS the age-old
conflict arising from the marital infidelity Of
one of the partners. There is the conflict
arising from economic conditions, involving
the division and sharing Of income, extrava-
,~sl FYH.~ T.
tween love for a husband and love for children
Several Of these conflicts enter into the life of
Ida Elizabeth, and Nine. Undset handles them
in such a way that her purpose is evidently
not merely artistic but controversial as well.
She not only has an idea of what Ida Eliza
beth being the sort of woman she is would do
under the circumstances; she knows what she
thinks Ida Elizabeth ought to do and makes
her do it.
Ida ElizabethS marriage to Frithjof IS not
wise or well considered, not the kind careful
parents would approve. 1t is the result of
youthful passion and youthful dreams. FIRTH
jof is weakling and from the start has little
chance of any kind Of success. There are three
children. Driven away from him by every
development in their lives, eliminating in his
unfaithfulneSs, Ida Elizabeth finally divorces
Frithjof. Another and stronger man comes
into her life, the lawyer Toksvold, and she
visions ahead some of the happiness in mar
rage WHICH Sue mas CQuS lar mlSSeQ buC
fate, or conscience, interveneS. Frithjof, i'll,
dying. needs her care, though she is divorced
from him. Her son Carl has taken a great
dislike to Toksvold, which threatens to become
an obsession. Beset by doubts, Ida Elizabeth
chooses sacrifice for herself, instead Of thrust
ing aside the strangling claims of others and
studing forward to happiness. Readers will
differ in their approval or disapproval of her
choice, but they will not fail to be interested
in Nine. Undsets detailed and mastery de-
scription of the struggle and her strong char
acter portrayal.
PRINCE OF THE CAPTIVITY. BY John
Buchan. Boston: Houghton Mifain Co.
A DAM MELFORTS life broke off sharply in
his 30s, when he was sentenced to q
prison term for forgery-not his forgery, but
his wifes. His friends who suspected the
truth bitterly judged that Camilla was not
worth the sacrifice, of his place in the Army
and his whole future, and during his long days
in prison he himself at first questioned the
honorableness of his decision. His immolation
did not prevent her getting divorce for deser-
ton under Scots law. In prison Adam was kept
from going under by two things-the dreams,
in which he was able to live, of his childhood
home and present possession of Eilean Ban,
an island in the Highlands and after time,
when he was able to rouse himself from his
Dreams by the conviction that if God willed
to plough under" a soul, harvest might
resul(that there was still action for him, If
not at the front, then behind the lines. So,
when Adam came out of prison in March,
1914, it was with high courage and the cer-
tainty that there would be work for him to
do. The work was already imminent.
The Summer of 1914 he spent in getting rid
of his slack prison body. He went to a farm
in Northumberland and day after day tramped
the moOrS in every weather: evening after
evening pored over books and newspapers.