Evening star., 1938-09-18
By Mary.Carter Roberts.

THE BUCCANEERS. BY Edith
Wharton. New York: D. Apple
ton Century Co.
~HIS Is the novel on which
Mrs. Wharton was working at
the time Of her death. It Is
L published here in the form in
which she left 1t. That Is. the book
Is incomplete both in length and nm
ish. The story is told up to what
probably would have been three
quarters of the intended work ct runs
SIS pages), and in this there are pas.
sages which are obviously no more
than bookings IL. There are also
chapters so well polished that their
author probably regarded them as
finished. The actual plot, however, is
perfectly clear throughout Is much
OF the work as we have. and for
the ending, that is indicated in notes
which Mrs. Wharton left and which
are appended.
The story concerns two American
families. nouveaux riches. and the
manner In which they made an as
sault on English society. The scene Is
set In the middle seventies and its
drama consists in the contrast between
the stuffy, pompous English life Of
the period and the undismayed, un-
impressed attitude toward this life Of
the American invaders-or "bucca-
neers," Is the title has it. Incom-
plete rs the work Is, this contrast is
carried out strongly and gives the
story its prevailing atmosphere.
The Americans are shown to have
been social failures in their own coun-
try before they make their assault on
the London season. New York and
Newport have rejected them because
the money of the husbands Is too
new and manners of the wives too
uncertain. Money and ambition,
however. are not the whole Of their
social capital. Each family possesses
. brace of beautiful and witty daugh-
tiers. Into their temporarily discour-
aged circle there comes, in the guise
Of governess. 4 member Of one of the
old Italian revolutionary families
which At the time Of the Risorgimento
had taken refuge in England. a cousin
Of Dante Gabriel Rossetti This wom-
an, by tradition and temperament
sympathetic with attackers, suggests
that the families transfer their ef-
forts from the United States to Eng
land. They do so, and, under the
governess' direction. arrive at the So
ctal triumph which is their driving
desire.
Mrs. Wharton has drawn in her
action with an unsparing pen. She
shows no mercy for either side. Her
Americans, while definitely the moral
superiors Of her British characters,
with one exception are still woefully
poor In values; they honestly believe
that society" organized as such, is
all-important. They have no inter-
ests in the world outside its bounds, no
education except that designed to
make them social successes, no per-
ceptions except social perceptions
They are admirable in the conduct of
their campaign. to be sure. Unafraid,
arrogant and calm, they size up the
heap Of relics and ruins which is pre-
sented to them as England and decide
cooNy what pieces they want to ac-
quire. They emerge with the best
husbands. the best titles. the best
houses, the best places But outside
Of this skill and decisiveness in TAX
ing what they want with, as said
before. one exception) they have no
h,,aoSn y,o1itiAa yt.sf
seem as cold and single minded as
= group Of beautiful gulls swooping
on 4 hapless school Of hsh. What.
one wonders. are they going to do with
their titles, having acquired them?
The answer is implicit in the oppo-
site side Of the contrast, in the picture
which Mrs. Wharton gives Of the Eng
iish ladies whose domain these buc-
cancers invade. The Americans, she
seems to tell us, could hardly do worse
than their predecessors, no matter
how emptily they might proceed. For
the dull stupidity and the self -wor-
shipping ignorance Of her duchesSes
Is practically an absolute. Against
the newcomers these ladies can oppose
nothing but thickening of their nat
ural unhappy quality; as the Ameri-
cans charm by beauty. they exalt the
homeliness of their own daughters as
. virtue and, when the buccaneers
shine with gayety and wit, the Eng
lish retort with homilies in praise OF
dullness. The contrast has sometimes
the broadness Of caricature, but there
Is also the deadly truth of caricature
In 1t. One of the Americans makes
the remark that where men are
amused fashion will follow, and surely
there have, at times, been marriages
and other events in English history
which. to some degree, bear out the
Justice of the observation?
The exception in this battle of op-
posing camps In sordidneas is the
younger daughter Of one of the Amer
lean families. She carries OF the
greatest triumph Of all; she marries
the premier duke of the realm. But
she finds her life in his vast house
hold intolerable in its tastelessness and
hypocrisy, and leaves him to elope
with 4 poor engineer. This denouement
Is not within the part of the story
which Mrs. Wharton was written, but
Is told In her appended notes.
The character of the governess is
the decisive one in the story. She II
is, who forms the soul of the rebel
daughter, she 1t was to have been, by
the authors notes, who would encour.
age the girl to 60 with her true lover
She is cynical enough to take delight ir
the successes Of the older sisters, know.
ing we'll that they will be satisfied with
the splendid emptiness which they &C.
quire, but she has genuine1ess enough
TO rejoice when she finds q nature su.
perior to such folly and, in assisting
the elopement, sacrifices her own de-
veloping romance and dooms herself
to an old age Of obscure poverty.
There Is . kind Of slippery quality
IN the book in places, but this, Of course
Is due to its unfinished state. In the