Evening star., 1938-10-02

gave it thought? Why, then, all
this present hair-rending over the
long-suffering mujiks? Why the bitter
auctorial wars, the insults" over
whether Ivan has sWansdoWn mat
tresses to sleep on or merely goose
feathers?
The reviewer can find no answer,
save the cynical one which she has
already made several times-there is
profit in the subject for the writer's.
Gradually the reputable are getting
out of the grimy disagreement. As
the support of such men as M. Glide
is increasingly withdrawn, it is to be
expected that the uproar of the faith
full will become louder in desperation.
But. as interest dies. the comrades
will naturally have to look otherwheres
for markets for their impassioned
wares. There is, of course, always
Spain Mr.. Gide's book would
seem to be both unnecessary and COM
mendable.
PATCHES OF SUNLIGHT. BY Lord
Dunsany. New York: Reynal e.
Hitchcock.
WITH admirable modesty, Lord
Dunsany tells us, almost in his
first words of this, his autobiography,
that he is aware that any interest
which he holds for the public lies in
his work as writer. Therefore, he says,
in writing his life history for the
public's information he will relate
only those parts of it which bear on
the creation of his books. He has had
an enviable existence from many
points of view; he is one by birth en-
dowed with fortune, position and free
dom. The public, which generally
hungers after the intimate side of
the lives of those removed from it,
would unquestionably have accepted a
more personal kind of autobiography
But the method which Lord Dunsany
has chosen Is the right one, by any
standard
The promised pattern is pretty well
adhered to. The work begins with its
authors childhood and moves on to
the close of the World War and is
scrupulously devoted to describing
those moments or scenes which gave
him literary inspiration. Lord Dun
sany lived in England and in Ireland;
he was sent to Eton and from there
to crammer's; he entered the Royal
Military College at Sandhurst: he
served in the Boer War. He married,
this routine existence of British Off
Ger he encountered from time to time
patches of sunlight t'-moments that
is. when word, syllable or a
scene suggested to him some tale to
write Out of these moments he has
conjured literary career. He traces
that career back to its scattered be-
ginnings now.
He writes quietly here, with little
of the mischief and fancy which
usually characterize his work. The
tone of his book, indeed, Is almost
one of ennui. 1t Is as if he we're
little weary of it all, as if he were
writing beautifully-as he is-from
duty and habit rather than from de-
sire. Withal, his book is a distin-
guished one, by no means to be put in
the general ruck of life histories now
flooding the market in all too obvious
Difference to a literary fashion.
REBECCA. BY Daphne de Maurier.
Garden City: Doubleday, Doran e.
Co.
THIS novel is, to the reviewers mind,
just one more of those things. 1t
is melodramatic tale in Miss de
Maurier's well-established. melodra-
matte manner-a cross, that Is, be-
tween a tender sob and steam siren.
Plenty of people will like it-plenty
will even buy it. That tells us moth
ing, Of course, except that plenty of
people will like and buy. Omniscient
though it unquestionably is In most
matters, the public is practically al
ways wrong in its taste in written
works.
bup, 1ol ULloSC wiz VAIN W hLoW,
this is what "Rebecca" is. A young
English matron of high degree dies
suddenly. killed in a sailing accident.
Her husband shortly marries again,
taking for his second wife shy. un-
formed young thing whom he meets
casually. girl without means or posi-
ton who is expecting to earn her liv-
ing by being paid companion. He
takes her to live at the great house
where his first wife-Rebecca-had
made her home. And the shadow of
Rebecca Is over everything. The young
wife struggles for long time to clear
her life of this presence and at last
does so. There you have it, Made to
melt in the mouth! Made to rejoice
the hearts of those who like Michael
Arlen and Lloyd Douglas. More than